


Until Our Last Breath

by seokjinsworld



Category: The Maze Runner (Movies), The Maze Runner Series - All Media Types, The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: Action & Romance, Action/Adventure, Adventure, Angst, Death, F/M, Falling In Love, Fights, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Guns, Haircuts, Humor, I love this story, Love, Minor Character Death, NEWT BEING NEWT, POV Third Person, Protective Minho, Sarcasm, Sassy Minho, Scared Minho, Shirtless Minho is best Minho lmao, Shooting, Teresa be up to shizz, Trust Issues, Violence, a whole lot, enjoy, fite me ok, i hope he is yours too, mINHO is mY chIld, pls, thirst is real
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-07
Updated: 2016-09-30
Packaged: 2018-08-12 11:29:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 36,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7932946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seokjinsworld/pseuds/seokjinsworld
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rescued from the Maze, the Gladers are put into a new "home", where they are convinced to think they are away from WICKED. The Scorch becomes something crucial not too long after, meeting new people and discovering WICKED's intentions through out time and searching for help, AKA The Right Arm.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Seeking Refuge

**Author's Note:**

> Boiiii.
> 
> :')
> 
> I'm back at it again. And hopefully we get this show on the damn road, huh?

"I can't let you leave."

"Gally, put the gun down.." Thomas murmured, fear creeping up into everyone's lives at that minute. 

"We belong to the Maze. We all do."

"No.." Shaking his head and gulping, he frantically took turns to see his gun point up and at him. 

"We can't leave."

"Gally, _please_ -" She spoke up; hoping it'd change his mind. Gally simply gave her this heart broken expression. He was far gone. Like Ben. 

"Don't do this-!"

The pistol echoed, and a vibration rang through the air from her left. Minho responded fast. 

Not too fast.

Gally had killed Chuck. Shot him. The target was Thomas.. But.. Chuck sacrificed himself. The kid didn't look more than 12 or 14. A sob tore from Thomas's throat, his hands clutching onto Chuck like a life line and begging him to stay alive. The wound was bleeding profusely, and the excess was getting onto the floor, edging around her boots. His last breath escaped him and he stopped all movement, eyes glassy and staring at nothing. 

Minho had thrown his last spear, the aiming precisely hitting Gally below his heart. His choke was evident then had dropped to the floor, like his body was in shock from the puncturing weapon that delved into his skin. Thomas's sobs continued to make it's way into her heart, and she squinted her eyes, the tears bursting. Chuck was gone. That little boy was something special, someone who wanted to survive. They were all sure that they'd all escape. But Gally wanted to change it around. Hatred grew in her soul, her very core. That he had the nerve to kill a human to make his point. 

"Agh! You shucking-!" She began, but the Korean grasped onto her wrist with a deft glance. "He..! Oh.. Chuck.." She cried out and dropped her head, the hold on her wrist being tight. It burned, her tears as they ran down her cheeks. " _Chuck_.." She couldn't bare to look down at the child, and swiftly shielded half of her face, getting Minho to let go as she paced to the side.

Thomas did all he could to get to talk to Chuck, repeatedly pulling on his blood soaked top. "Chuck, come on! **No!** You're going to be fine!" 

No one said anything, not even did she think of what to say, there was absolutely no justice of this. They didn't have time to process this sudden death. "Chuck!" Thomas yelled in despair, and let his forehead touch his forearms that were like an X on Chuck's chest. Minho had to pull her to him when she was beginning to kneel on the ground, lost with what would happen next. 

Double doors opened and lights flashed inside. They were being rescued.

Between the monitor showing them this woman, she killed herself on recording. Behind her was disaster, people breaking in and shooting the Creators, forcing them to meet their fates in front of erased computers. It was confusing and complicated, what they were and what they'd do with their lives from then on. What would they do?

Teresa did her best to get Thomas to release Chuck but she was tugged away, shrieking for him to let go. Thomas was adamant about staying with him, but multiple men pried him away from the floor and to the hall that lead them to the outside world. "No!" He beat at their arms that folded around his waist, pushing at him and shoving. Minho was grabbed with her, their embrace broken and not linked. It made her desperate, whimpering and reaching for him. 

Helicopter blades whirred rapidly in the distance and their feet sunk into sand, which felt foreign to her. Sand? Why were they in a desert of some kind? Where were they, actually? The men gave up on her when she wasn't showing resistance, she wanted to be with Minho. Minho caught her hand when she ran up to the helicopter's step, being swept in smoothly and to back against the wall. There was no seats, just metal plating and lights bleeping around them on the inside. 

Newt who was still choked up from the incident came in, then Winston, then Frypan, and Teresa. Clint didn't make it back there.. 

Thomas was last, on his hands and knees from tripping in the sand. They kept shouting at him to get up and get in there, that it was important that they hurry. He filed in and they shut the sliding door, her cheeks streaked with blood and tears. She had got cut on her cheek, and her leg was still hurting from the explosion of logs because of that Griever crashing into the Homestead. Minho's body squished her and they didn't have a choice to be like that, his arms sandwiched by the side of the helicopter and her. 

The soldier was flipping switches in the pilot's front of the vehicle, speaking into the intercom. Newt was stone-faced, holding onto anything as they raised higher and higher feet in the air. She gasped at the change of atmosphere, Minho collected but weary of where they were being sent. No one asked anything, and neither did they stay awake for an extra minute. She felt her boyfriend's head thunk onto her shoulder and she kissed it, nuzzling into his hair. She turned to let him rest it completely on her, her hand cupping his temple and his ear. 

Drifting off to dreams that turned into memories, she stirred against Minho, her hand dropped. 

 

* * *

 

 

_"You'll be good on your first day of school, right, sweetie?"  Mommy brushed her hair back and she flinched, the tangles being caught in the wooden brush. "If you don't say yes, I'll tickle you."_

_"Yes, yes, I will." She giggled even when she didn't tickle her, her hair tied into a single ponytail. Daddy came in, in his mechanic uniform. He loved working on cars in his spare time. "The bus will be here any second!" She shrieked, and grabbed her book bag, running to Daddy and hugging him by his leg._

_He chuckled and ruffled her hair, careful to not mess up his wife's work. He kissed her goodbye and waved, going out the front door. It was a miracle, that no one knew that would be the last day humanity was in normalcy._

_"Don't forget to give your teacher that gift that I put in here." She tugged on her book bag to indicate to her. "I think I heard the bus honking, go."_

_Waving in the air as she exited the house, she waved good bye to her father that was already driving off, and went to the yellow school bus that picked her up for school every morning on the dot. She saw her mother watching her from the nearby window and laughed, giving her an excited smile._

 

* * *

 

Minho was shaking her awake like a mad man, since she didn't seem to budge an inch of her happy dream like state, and she gasped, her eyes popping open. They landed the helicopter and nearly everyone was missing except for Thomas and her boyfriend. He got to Thomas to wake him up too, and then she was picked up by her arms and legs, her arms having to weave over Minho's neck. 

"Minho?" She panicked, her voice curious. "W-What's going on!"

He didn't answer her but was running, her body jiggling and bouncing with his actions, his feet moving sluggishly on the sand under them. She saw over his shoulder that Thomas forgot something, and had to go back, the rags that the soldier's wore making them look like ninja's. They wore goggles for the sand storm that was raining over them, and she realized that it'd be better to shut her eyes until they were in shelter. 

She squeaked when he nearly tripped and dropped her, her moan of pain evident. He was struggling too, he shouldn't be carrying her! She opened her eyes to see lamp posts with lights attached to them to show the way to the building, her eyes following up of it. It was a huge building! It had lights that could belong to stadiums, and it's many windows she couldn't count was astounding. She couldn't see much of her environment except for sand dunes, and then she saw the soldiers raising their guns to the hills. 

Was something coming after them?

Awful terrifying screeches and laughter were coming from all angles, mangled bodies rolling down the hills and pursuing forward, like wolves about to eat their prey. They seemed deranged, yet was like a human. She was adjusted in Minho's hold and they got inside, Newt having to pant for air, his hands on his knees and Teresa putting a hand to her forehead. 

Thomas arrived right as the doors were shutting, the gunshots going off outside and them saying the same word over and over again. 

Crank.

That word was familiar and she couldn't put her finger on it, her feet touching the ground and her limp being supported by her good leg. "Did they just say.. Crank?"

"What's a Crank?" Thomas over heard her and he raised an eyebrow, unsure as well. 

She hacked and beat on her chest. Sand storms made the air dry and she couldn't breathe all too good. "Where are we?"

"I don't know." Newt replied to her then took a few steps, there was construction going on inside, and forklifts being driven everywhere to a destination. Soldiers got them to start moving as a group, having to lean on Minho again and Newt. Newt was helpful even if he had his own problem in his leg. 

"You will all be put in a room until he will show you around." A soldier told them, wielding his gun casually. 

"He?" Winston asked Thomas and Frypan shrugged his shoulders carelessly. 

"It's whatever, man." Frypan lightly commented, everyone was equally sleepy. They didn't know what time it was, either. 

 

Staying in a storage facility is  _not_ the way to go, every one was dozing off or trying to find a way out. Minho wasn't in the mood to search for a way out, instead sitting on a table that had a box of tools to fiddle with.

"I wonder how long they'll coop us up like animals." She mumbled, her fingers brushing over old technology. Her stomach growled and her hair felt frizzy, making her grumpy. 

"We wait as long as we need to. They saved us." Winston mentioned and leaned back in his chair. 

"Did they really?" Thomas questioned the Keeper, and Winston grimaced. 

"It's not like they can hold us in this room forever." Minho picked up a wrench then twirled it in his palms. 

Thomas was the first person to get up and go to the door when it was pulled open to them, and a mid-thirties white guy came in, with gray sides of his hair making it two-toned. How original. She immediately had a notion that he wasn't to be trusted but she couldn't revolve around it, she didn't know him.

"Hello, everyone." He was cheery for no reason whatsoever. Gosh. 

They were on edge, all eyes on him. 

"Who are you?" Thomas was yearning for him to give them information. 

He evaded the question of his identity, sending the intelligent teenager a warm smile. "Follow me. I believe you all need to be settled in."

The style he walked in was as if he was full of himself, her eyes becoming smaller by the second to accumulate who he could be in personality wise. They were guided through the area, and he began to let himself be known. 

"You can call me Mr. Janson. I think you should think of this place as your new home, where you can be out of the hands of WICKED. Sound good, yeah?"

"Wait.. You know WICKED?" Newt hesitated. 

"It's a miracle you can sustain being affected out there in the Scorch. The Flare Virus is the thing that prevents us from going farther in to explore." He evaded the second prodding question like the first and it bothered the British Glader. He opened up a sliding wall to a different section of the building. "Wash up."

Their eyes were showing signs of gratitude. They got to shower.

Until she and Teresa were stopped from entering with the boys and were given the other side of the showers, and Minho and her got separated. They loved keeping them apart, didn't they. She didn't care about rules, but they were stronger than her, steering her aside by her arm. 

Once in the showers and the jet of water ran down her body, naked in all her glory, she closed her eyes. When was the last time she took a shower like this? Rolling her neck then putting both hands on the wall, she felt the wall weakly, thinking about how her life could be changed if that Janson dude was serious. She didn't trust him. Her hair connected in her face and she brushed it back, letting it get clean. She scrubbed and scrubbed until all the dirt came off, watching it drip and fall into the drain. Sand, blood and substances mixed in a strange brown and red shade gave her goosebumps. 

She felt really clean by that point, drying off and slipping on the clothes she was brought. It was a cotton sweater and baggy pants, the shoes she was given being boots like the last pair she had. They weren't as good as the Runner boots, but they were good enough to walk around with. She was grateful. 

 

They were examined in cubicles, the curtains providing privacy and less stares from other people working in the medical personnel. The staff took their time with taking blood, injecting shots in them, practicing their abilities they adhered in the Glade, her boyfriend being put on the treadmill to track his heart rate or such. 

Thomas was getting his blood taken opposite of her and he didn't seem to be afraid of the needles, doing as he was told. She on the other hand had to look away and wince whenever they'd take more than a few tubes as they said they would take, heaving a breath. "You done yet, sir?"

"Two more, miss."

"Ugh."

She felt that she'd run dry if they continued to take all she had left, her arm stretched out. Five to ten minutes passed and she was released, having to fold her elbow with the bulk of cotton in the crease. It was sore for the moment, getting up to groan and walk to Minho, staring at the pinching device that went on both of his index fingers. She wondered why they needed this kind of stuff? It looked useless. What would they do with this? Put him in a relay? 

He panted evenly, not breaking a sweat. He wore a regular t-shirt compared to her and his pants reminded her of what the army pants looked like. "Hey there, Greenie."

"Hanging in there?" She saw the doctor come up to the treadmill to check over the numbers that the speed was set on, scribbling a long sentence down on her clipboard. 

"Yeah." He quipped; his eyes focusing on her bandage on her cheek. "How's the cut?"

"Better. My leg got patched up and I was given some meds." She informed him kindly and grinned lightly. "I hope we get something to eat soon."

"Ditto." He huffed and his attention was drawn in by a man coming to Thomas to ask him to come with him. She could tell he was looking in Thomas's direction, turning to see it too. 

"How fortunate. He gets out of his blood work earlier." She snidely said, but was playful. 

He tilted his head a bit then watched with his partner as Thomas went with the man, blinking softly. "Hmph. Well then."

"They took like 10 tubes of blood. Isn't that bad?"

"Probably means you get more food for that." He smirked.

 

They were cleared to have dinner, which must mean it was 5 or 6 in the evening, maybe later than that, who cared. Food was the priority. She was settling for carbohydrates and meat, vegetables or fruit, anything. A metal cup and plastic silverware was applied to her meal, sitting with Winston, Frypan, Minho, and Newt. The boys and girls in the cafeteria seemed like their age, and no one was shy to get to know them or where they came from. How long were they here, anyways?

She sat opposite of Minho, since she valued his bubble of closeness, munching on everything in sight. She didn't want to stuff herself to the brim and get a stomach ache. "Man.. This isn't as good as Frypan's meals, but it can do."

Frypan appreciated the comment by lifting his cup in cheers. "Preach."

"You guys got here not too long ago, right?" A boy asked that sat next to her, and her cheeks reminded Minho of chipmunks feeding. 

"Yeah. You?" Newt respectfully answered. 

"Nah, just over a day."

"Where did you come from.. Did they bring you here too?"

"We came from a Maze."

"A Maze? You're joking." Winston couldn't believe his ears.

"No, we're pretty serious." Said the second boy that was next to the one that questioned them. 

"We came from a Maze too." Frypan was interested in this, his elbows making him incline. "Did you have Grievers?"

"Grievers?" The two boys looked at one another. They had monsters, too, but probably had a different name for them. How weird. Minho couldn't even comment, he was busy taking in that load of klunk. Two Mazes? 

Thomas was away for nearly a half an hour and he was standing at the entrance of the cafeteria, which the Korean immediately got up to get him to come to their table. "I see Thomas. I'm gonna get him, Newt." Newt was clapped on the back and the blonde nodded along, digging his fork into his dish. 

Minho was expressing this news that they weren't the only Maze, and Thomas's face contorted with concern. Like how is that possible? Her steel seat she sat on was heating up by her body temperature and she couldn't be bothered to think that they're not the only ones from a Maze. She didn't want to know any more about how they lived. Thomas got to them and sat in an empty seat, listening intently to what they said. 

"There was this big explosion and.."

"How long have you stayed here?" Thomas cut him off by accident. 

"I said we got here two days ago. But I should mention.." He pointed to a few feet away. There was a mousey boy of at least sixteen with his hoodie covering him completely. "That boy has been here longer. His Maze was all girls."

" _Really?_ " Minho was dreaming of the feeling of being surrounded by girls instead of guys if he was in that kid's world. She glared a bit at Minho for his dreamy features. He stopped and cleared his throat when he realized she could see what he was thinking about. "Not that I care." He joked and shoveled some beans into his mouth to not say anything else for his sake of not owning a bruise by the hands of her. 

Thomas's eyes were fixated on the boy in the corner and he wouldn't drop it, until his ears picked up on doors opening, Janson coming in with a list of names. He boasted for everyone to hear him, announcing that the names will move onto greener pastures. "Alright! First up.. Connor."

A hoop and a holler was springing up from a table to their right, and then another name was called. "Evelyn." 

Girls hushed and brought their friend up to the front, her brunette hair shining. "Justin. Peter." Janson was taking time between to have them come up to line on the wall. "Allison... Squiggy." People erupted in snickers and a teenager came up, Janson not finding it amusing. "Enough."

Exhaling then getting the last names out, "Franklin. And Abigail." Everyone's sighs echoed and hands came together to clap. They were disappointed? What was this for? It sounded stupid. "I know, I know, boys and girls." He held the list under his arm and he laced his fingers together. "I'd take more if I could, but you know how it is. Enjoy your meal."

They all went back to their routine and the boys that were sitting with them scoffed. "Lucky bastards."

"Where are they going?" She saw how Thomas wanted to know instantly of what was going on. It was on a border of annoying and puzzling. 

"Some farm. Far from here." He shrugged at Thomas and Thomas wasn't satisfied, twisting himself to face where Janson stood previously. There was a glass wall that showed a hall, but it was empty until a doctor that took care of Teresa back in the cubicles was walking along it with a bunch of patients behind her. One of them was Teresa.

He shot up to get Teresa's attention and walked away from the table, Minho and Newt being left to think of what he was going to do. "What is he doing, now?" She exaggerated, furrowing her eyebrows. "Thomas.."

He was seen being stopped by guards when he kept calling for her yet she turned her head to him at the last minute. Ironic. It was like she was doing it purposely. Ugh. He was told off to relax and that he'd get to see her soon, but of course, he wasn't convinced. 

 

They were taken to their bunks to get sleep, and she was stopped from entering with them. She resisted from punching the guy in the face and she pursed her lips, Minho looking back to see she wasn't allowed to come in. "Dude." She looked at the soldier and he was ready to explain to her that she was going to be put in a female dorm, but he was being patched in on his walkie-talkie, having to take it.

"Yes, sir?"

"Female dorm has a bad leakage issue. It'll take a night to fix. Let her have that room. It has an extra bed anyways." He was advised to let her stay for one night and he wasn't sure if he was going to let this happen.

She waited until he put his arm down and she stared at him for an extra minute. "You guys are uptight about me being a shucking girl, huh."

"Get in there, ma'am." He restricted himself from her comment then closed the door after her. 

She got to be with her Glader friends and she stretched, not cracking a smile. Minho quickly hopped onto the bars that are for the top of the beds, his arms flexing with using his strength, jumping onto the bed with a grunt. "I get top bunk!" He beamed, letting his legs hang at the sides. "Too slow."

Thomas wasn't busy picking a bed, Winston already getting snug as a bug in a rug on a lower leveled bed. Frypan got a lower bunk too, cracking his knuckles. The sound of the door locking in place had her think of how they were being put in jail.

"Will I be there up there with you?" She had puppy eyes, wrapping her fingers around the ladder's handles to gape up at him. 

He can tell it wouldn't be a good idea. He sighed then put his hand out to help her up, getting her to sit next to him. "Wow.. This bed isn't as big as the bed we had or the hammock, but it has plenty of cushion.."

She had to crawl around, not wanting to bang her head on the ceiling or put her leg at an awkward angle. This bed had a single pillow, but Minho was her set of pillows as it was. Perfect. No blankets either? That was fine, Minho was like a heater. Thomas settled on the bottom of them, and she was okay with that, he wasn't a noisy sleeper nor felt weird towards them sleeping together on the top. She liked that they left her alone with Minho. 

The Korean laid back with a hearty groan, his stomach full and his wounds all patched up, like her. It seemed peaceful. This could be a great home. She got curled into his side and she had to put her head on his chest, her hands strewn on his stomach or ribs, leg bending at the knee to be over one of his thighs. He liked sleeping on his back, thankfully, and he was okay with her being a koala and hugging him to her. 

He randomly started to rub her back, his eyes open and resting. "I'm not exactly too tired.. But.." He had a hinting tone, having her pick her head up to see him. "I'll wait until later."

Later?

What does he mean?

He averted his eyes, flashing to where the boys were. Oh! He meant.. Later in the night for that.  _That._ Ohh. 

She giggled then pecked his chin, his actions adorable. "Alright." She whispered, catching on. 

 

* * *

 

 

It was around midnight when they started to make out, heatedly albeit the sounds of their lips smacking and various creaks of the frame. He had to hold back much of his moans if he liked when she'd suck on his bottom lip, or nibble at the top, his hair being kneaded and his shoulders held from arching his back. It was stressful to do this while any of them could wake up and he squinted his brown eyes at her in the dimness of the room. They had turned off the lights, which gave them time to engrave every touch or stroke of their lips meeting. 

"Nngh." He groaned particularly at a tug of his hair, exposing his neck from the force of it. "Ah.."

"Shh." She kissed at his throat and under his jaw line, sucking firmly between her teeth. His hands were occupied in the sheets, grabbing at them and pulling in intervals. His hips were pinned by her leg and it was proven to keep him at bay from going any farther in feeling good, shivering and having to make his shoulders rise. 

When they rose up, she had to stop kissing, it was like she was making him uncomfortable. "Are you okay? What am I doing wrong?"

"Nothing.." He whispered, and turned his head back to her, his lips parted and trying to breathe evenly. "You're.."

She shut him up by a finger on his lips and got what he meant, he didn't need to say it, she was blushing furiously. "I-I get it."

He chuckled breathlessly then kissed her again, his hips grinding against her thigh in need. "Sorry." He was horny, yeah, but.. They weren't ready and she cupped his face instead of grabbing his hair, wryly smiling. "I can't help it."

"It's okay." He could actually feel the heat coming from her face and he understood, having to will his hormones away. "I didn't mean to rile you up."

"I didn't expect to be riled up either.." He nodded to her, his body squirming a bit. "It's not the best thing, but I can deal with it."

"What best thing? Deal with what?"

"Um.." Minho's throat closed up. Erection's normally aren't complicated to him, but to her it could be. "Don't worry about it. It's nothing."

"Okay then." She decided it'd be better to stop talking, making patterns on his shirt. "We should sleep.. It's late."

"Yeah, yeah, totally."

 

They slept, but she woke up every other hour or so. He was knocked out for most of it, and she either had to pee, or get a glass of water. This time she woke up because Thomas ran the water in the faucet to splash his face, seeming troubled with his thoughts. Closing her eyes, it seemed like a few hours up and went, until a screw came loose from a vent, it's tinny sound hitting the floor. She was piqued in interest from it, looking for the source.

It came from the lower bunk. 

A hiss from a human was heard and Thomas must have twisted and turned to hear it too, he was awake? A whisper was exchanged and his body made the whole bunk feel lighter. He was crouched, so she didn't see his head show up from the top bunk. He then disappeared and her senses of feeling another's presence was gone. Where did he go?

Exhaustion fell on her and she waited for Thomas to come back, instead she fell asleep again by the time he did. 

 

* * *

 

"Alice."

"Perry."

"Walt."

Janson went down his next list, flipping the pages. "Edgar... Samantha."

"Great." She murmured and Minho stared her down as she didn't want to pay any mind to who was moving on. "Does this happen every day? How depressing."

"You wouldn't want to go away far from here?" A stray boy snarfed on his food obnoxiously while speaking down low to her.

"Why are you talking to me?" She deadpanned. 

Minho couldn't bear his choking laugh but turned it into a cough, looking away. "Shuck."

"Erin. Sally.. Henry." The middle aged man called out, them getting up with rather emotional moments because they were parting from their friends.

She decided to give him the nickname of 'cow', because his mouth reminded her of a cow chewing on cud. "Do you know how to eat without spitting it on the table?" She whispered, disgust evident on her face. She was quite blunt, and the boy had to sneer and roll his eyes at her. Reserving herself, she could see Minho trying to hold it in. She managed a slight grin and she shyly rubbed her cheek. "Stop, or else you'll turn into a tomato."

Minho maneuvered himself to cough again, wiping at his nose to seem alright. Newt didn't find this hilarious, deft with the situation. "You two shuck faces need to shut your bloody mouths. Minho." He curtly said Minho's name then his eyes glanced to Thomas, who looked like he wanted to see someone really badly. 

"Tim.. and lastly, David. My apologies for interrupting, you can go back to eating." Janson finished, walking out with those that were assigned to leave, the round of applause making her feel empty. She bets that they'd soon be on that list, and won't get much applause. They didn't mingle with anyone unless they had to. There was an odd sensation about being here and she didn't like it. Newt was fancying the whole spiel, he was acting like they were saved from every kind of danger by being here but it wasn't.

She felt like Janson was specifically someone she knew before in her past life, before the Maze. She didn't have any memories about him yet, though. She sipped on her water and was immensely bored, her posture slack. When would something be entertaining other than Minho and being here in this building with people she didn't want to talk to. 

Thomas sprouted from the table after Newt was talking to him, and Frypan was poking Winston to point at the teenager going up to the same guards as yesterday, attempting to slip past them unnoticed. Obviously it failed and they started to push at their shoulders, the guard raising his tone at him. Minho and Newt were there to hold Thomas back, and she stayed at the table due to Minho wanted her to not be blamed for sticking up for Thomas's actions. 

She heard that Thomas wanted to see Teresa, as figured and Janson had to step in, like he was trying to get into Thomas's head. 

"We're on the same team, Thomas." He reassured. "Yeah?"

"Are we?" Thomas fought with his words and gawked at him, getting Minho and Newt to slide their hands off his arms. 

His jaw unhinged to look into Thomas's eyes. "Escort them to their bunks. The girl too."

She dropped her fork and gasped. She didn't do anything yet she got blamed for the entirety of the Gladers, the employee's working for Janson having to get her out of her seat and make her walk out with them. 

 

Stumbling inside after she was shoved, she caught herself onto Newt and Winston's shirt, their hands hastily bringing her to be on her feet. She was furious with how they handled her, and kicked at the door with her leg that had healed over night, punching at it when it was closed on them. "Do that again and face me, shuck faces!" She hit it again then Frypan had to intervene, his arms going around her waist to lift her and move her safely away from the door. "Put me down, Fry!"

"Can't have you hurtin' ya self again." He put her down and she pushed the hair out of her face, her hands in fists. "Calm down."

"They locked us in our bunks, and Teresa is somewhere, I'm angry!" Minho held her in his arms from going to the door and he had to put his hand on her chest to feel her heart beat. It was raging. 

"Stop."

"He's right, Greenbean. Be quiet." Newt put his hand over her mouth, and then moved to Thomas, weaving his arms on his flat chest. "What's with you, Thomas. You don't go around doing those things-"

"They're hiding something, Newt. Hear me out," He closed his eyes to search for what he needed, plucking out an ID card. They all gaped at it and saw what it was. It was for any room in the whole place. He wanted Teresa that badly. "And I'm going to get to the bottom of it." 


	2. Let There Be Light!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Escaping the Maze was one thing, but to escape WICKED is trickier than the Gladers thought. Teresa is found, whilst they all plan to survive out in the Scorch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> omf pls 
> 
> I got school in a few hours
> 
> and I wrote up this chapter in like an hour because I wanted to get this out before I get my shower and shit
> 
> I don't know how I do it, but I do it. Leggo.

"Dude, they're not who they say are, I swear.." Thomas murmured to Newt, and Newt was shooting him a glance of uncertainty. "They're hidin' somethin'."

"You don't know that." He sternly spoke. "They saved us, and you're worried about what they do behind closed doors? I mean.. Really, Thomas?"

"Newt, you gotta believe me." 

She watched them two bicker and she frowned deeply, knowing it hurt to see friends argue about who's right and who's wrong. It wasn't fair, she was on neither side. But she definitely felt that Janson was a bad person inside. She held her tongue, though.

"Thomas. Stop. You acted like an absolute lunatic, back there-"

"You're not listening to me-" He cut him off with a sigh, and then everyone looked down at the vent that was pushed open near Thomas's bed, Frypan sincerely confused to what had happened.

"What the hell..!" He started, then waved his hands, walking away. "Nope. I'm out."

That mousey kid named Aris peeped up to them from his position that was his elbows and knees. "Hey! You got it?"

"Yeah." He held up the ID card in confirmation then stooped down to the vent slowly. "Look.." He began to speak, everyone keen on listening to his every word despite how crazy they probably think he is at the moment. "I might be paranoid. But I'll see it for myself. Cover me."

A pause was made until she gulped then stepped towards the vent too. "I'm coming."

"Wait, what? No. No. No you're not." Minho put his hand on her forearm and he sent her endearment. "You're not going in there."

"Minho, I'll be okay." She carefully reassured him then got him to slide his cool palm off, her eyebrows raising. "We'll be back."

Thomas saw the ordeal and couldn't help but smile a little to himself, finally someone had the guts to take better chances. Think outside the box, ya know. "Alright, let's move. Hurry." Aris, Thomas and her roamed the vents, it was as claustrophobic as the cave in the wall from the Maze, yet it was better in every other attribute. "Through here."

"Woah.." She inhaled sharply. "Do they all get this moist in here? The ventilation is awful."

Aris chuckled then shook his head, and crawled like a baby to the nearest intersection.

She saw a grate that was going downwards and it seemed like a heavy jump to make unless they were quiet like mice. "We're going down that?"

"Yep." Thomas got it to open, it's hinge undone and swinging forth to let them see the clean and shiny floor of the hall. She wondered what she'd be uncovering and learn about the stuff going on within the building. They hid stuff. Secrets, kind of stuff. She wasn't afraid to learn about it. First was Thomas, then Aris and she bit her lip as she prepared and hovered her lower half to go down. 

"One of you hold my legs?"

"You can't get down by yourself?" Aris sounded impatient and she huffed. 

"My leg is still injured, you brat." She snipped; and he had to hold onto her legs when they descended and bent at an angle, arms straining to hold her weight in one go. She slipped to use her hands and fell lower, his hands having to grab onto her with a squeeze to make sure she doesn't drop. Soon she was able to let go and her boots had a semi soft thud on the floor, her hands coming to rest on Aris's shoulders. 

It felt weird to be that close to him and she wigged out, squirming then walking to Thomas. "T..Thanks."

"Don't mention it." It didn't bother Aris apparently that she wasn't intuitive to be that close to others unless it was Minho, and he was scrawny as shit. 

She saw him pass the ID card down the slot on the keypad, it's bleep and swish of air from the doors coming into view. It was a vague blue shade for the entirety of the environment, the lab coats on hooks and an extra set of doors for the real thing. She stepped over onto the metallic and anti-bacterial setting, her hand coming up to tuck a piece of hair back. "This is creepy."

She didn't need for them to agree, she saw tubes.. With a water substance making the things float in them. It was a mixture of a centipede and those alien's you see in movies, it was horrifying to see at least six of them, lively and nurtured by capsules. "Let's go on."

To go on was the worst part, they pushed the double doors open confidently, Thomas's hands faltering to his side in realization that this was a load of information to take in. There was bodies, strung up by tubing and whatever else it took to get them to rise off the ground. They looked.. Dead. Why were they kept in here? Like subjects? She went up to each and every single one.. Thomas was possibly hoping none of these are Teresa.

But of course, she heard him say her name and try to sweep a curtain of dark hair from a girl. It wasn't her, but Aris had this expression of guilt or loss on his face. 

"You knew her?" She gestured to the young girl. 

"Rachel.. Her name is Rachel."

 

Those doors they had entered from gave the significant swooshing sound, Thomas grasping his timid hands around her wrists and pulling her with him to hide behind a pillar that belonged to a teenage boy, and he stared right at her face, in which she couldn't help but stare right back. Again, with the closeness. She was fine, she didn't need to be dragged, she wasn't deaf either. Now wasn't the time to be complaining; Janson and his cohorts are here and they're in danger in an restricted part of the building. Joy.

"She needed to see you, sir," Said the cohort.

"Brilliant. I have enough to deal with as it is."

"Sir."

"Make the connection." He seemed like he hated talking to whoever he referenced to be a pain in the ass. 

The large wall had a vibration then a line in the center that panned out left and right, opening up a screen, as a live video chat. She gawked at it then noticed Thomas still didn't let her hands go, tugging gently and giving him a warning face. "Let go of me." She mouthed.

He didn't answer her mouthed order and she tugged again, only to have him tense. 

"Ah.. Doctor Paige!" His persona changed dramatically, his haughty exterior sugarcoated with being an assisting hand in a way. 

A woman with orange-ish hair sat at a desk, her office must be lavish and expensive. "Janson."

"Wasn't expecting you."

"I'm sure you weren't. I'll be arriving sooner than I thought." She had put down her papers from her lap that she was going through than stood with a correct posture, going to the front of her desk. "I'll be there first thing in the morning."

"Really?" He was genuinely in shock to her news and he nervously looked to his assistant. "In the meantime, you'll be pleased with the results." His assistant pulled them up with a click of a remote and it appeared on the grid, Doctor Paige looking it over with unsatisfactory expressions. "Whatever you did.. It's working."

"By Board's approval, I want them to be sedated and ready for me, by the time I arrive." She evaded him with ease and she gave him a cold stare. 

"Wha.. We are doing what we can.. Doctor Paige. Still running tests."

"Try something faster, then. Not good enough. To guarantee their security-"

Interjecting her, he gritted out, "Security  _is_ my job here, we're on lock down as it is, the assets are secure." Janson had to refrain from being too harsh on emphasis and she merely regarded his counter argument. 

"What about The Right Arm. Have you found it?"

"No."

"Hmm." Oh dear.

"We've located them."

"You've located them, and they've attacked two of our installations, we need those kids. I  _cannot_ have this. This loss. Not when we're close to a cure." Her nostrils flared and she reminded her of a bull ready to beat up a red flag for filling it's vision. 

A cure? The Right Arm? Tests? Sedated? What are they to these people? She wrenched her hand away to cover her mouth and hide an exhale that's been held in for a minute or two, eyes blurred. They were going to be taken. By them. If they don't hurry and get to the bunks before they do. This isn't going to be good. Thomas could tell that she was having a hard time reeling in that they'd be taken to this woman by the next day if they're not sedated and she forced herself to look away from those people. Those people aren't who they say they are and she finally knew. 

They were WICKED all along. This wasn't a game, to the Gladers, but damn, they ate it all up. They aren't supposed to be gullible but WICKED won. Only this time. 

Deciding to wrap up this meeting, Janson goes to walk away, except Doctor Paige was seating herself down to resume reading. "They shouldn't feel any pain."

Thomas had to put a second set of hands on her mouth to make sure she didn't make a sound and he panicked silently as they walked past their pillars, Aris not daring to move even a muscle or ligament. They exited smoothly without a care in the world, the call being brief and shutting down. She let go of her mouth and she put her hands on her knees. 

"We got to go back and tell them before it's too late." Thomas said testily, getting them to move out and go back up into the vents when Janson and the soldier were far from ear shot. 

 

* * *

 

Their bodies snaked and slithered and furiously found their way to the bunks through the metal framing and Thomas shot up to search the room with items to barricade the door or buy time. They wouldn't go down without a fight. Aris and her were coming up and Minho was hoarding Thomas with questions alongside Newt who was bugging. If they saw what they saw, they'd do the same thing and have no rationality left to salvage. Warning them and ushering that they were coming, Newt would say, "Who's coming?" Then Minho's, " Dude, take a breath and talk to us!"

"We don't have time. It was them. It was them."

"Can you please tell us what's going on?" Minho raised his voice higher than Thomas's and Newt had to physically hold Thomas still. He ripped off the bed's mattress to try and make it hard for them to get the door open, his grunts heard. His mantra was "It's Ava, It was Ava."

"Who's Ava?" Newt questioned and he ran a hand through his hair, watching the Greenie try and help by pushing on a desk.

"We need to hurry-"

"What's going on!"

" **It's WICKED!** " Her and Thomas spat out and everyone was surprised at that response. "It was them all along-"

"It's always been WICKED.." She said under her breath then grunted, getting the desk in it's right angle to block the door, gasping when the key card was heard on the other side. Aris told them all to get in the vent and they all did, in time to see Janson's pointy nose peeping from the opening he had of just pushing on the door alone. She climbed in and was going to put the grate up to be out of sight, the door being punched and shoved on.

She stared at the door bumping in then out with loud bangs, her hands shakily putting it up at the second Janson burst through with his soldiers. Just in time. 

 

"We need to find Teresa!" Thomas piped up and everyone could feel tension in the air. She tried to catch up to Minho and grunted when she accidentally hit her head on the ceiling. 

"Yeah, reckon you know where she is?" Their voices sounded odd in the tunneling system, their sweats breaking out already. 

"No, but we'll search for her. We can't leave without her."

"Right."

Aris swiveled them to a bigger and better vent, pushing it open and letting them all pass so he could be last. When they were ready to run off, he told Thomas he needed to do something, that it was important, she was too busy looking left and right of the passages as a look out. Aris dived back into the shadows and Thomas told them to come with him, and Minho was saying along the lines of, "You trust that kid?"

"Yeah, if it wasn't for him, we'd be-" And they halted their movements, standing still. Doctor Crawford was in front of them, not particularly sure why, either. 

"What are you all doing outside of your bunks?" The woman asked inquisitively, her dark orbs scanning their faces of rebelling. Alarms went off above them and she looked up then down at them, starting to back up. She knew what was going to happen next. She was valuable. She handled Teresa and a bunch of other subjects.

 

The bulbous monitors that shone they were showing them running off around the place, scurrying to find the room, they often asked her where Teresa was and she'd refrain by answering anything, just raising her hands in surrender like that would help. She wasn't going to give it up. Until Thomas had to hold her hands behind her back and threaten her that she could die, she gave up everything.

"Where is the girl!"

"Which girl?"

"The girl was with us, black hair, and thin."

"I.. She's in a medical wing." She put her eyes to the ground solemnly. 

"Take us to her."

"You-"

"Take us there!"

She was showing them the way and they were unsure if she was lying but it seemed that she wasn't. On the way, she said this was the last turn, through the long and narrow hall. Frypan was the first to walk in it and he put his hands up in defense. A soldier saw him. 

"Freeze!"

As expected, he ducked fast and they all ran, running to escape instead of fighting. Minho had stopped in intense thinking, his head turning to where they were previously. Was he gonna..?

His war cry rung in the pipes lining along the walls and he ran right at the guy wielding an intimidating gun, kneeing him directly on his chest. It knocked him clean off his feet and onto the floor, as if he was the bowling pin and the Korean was the ball. He must be really strong in his legs to be able to do that. She hitched her breath as they caught up and Newt gaped at Minho's downcast face. 

" _Bloody hell_ , Minho."

Thomas crouches to the fallen man and takes his gun, turning it over in his hands for the touch and style of it. It wasn't an ordinary gun. There was not time to dawdle, so he pointed it's tip at Doctor Crawford, her hands immediately going up in surrender. "Go!"

 

Her stakes were high of death, her hands shakily pushing open the door that was supposedly the medical wing. Her partner was coming to greet her but they broke forth and crowded them, the measly gun being their only weapon against the shroud of staff members. Thomas hands it to Minho for him to take charge while he found Teresa behind a sheet of white, his body having to kneel and stroke her slumbering face. 

Her boyfriend's authoritative voice intimidated the adults, "Get down! _Get_ **down!** "

She sneered at a doctor that was taking a syringe for protection, her reflexes bringing her fist down on his hand that had clasped it's circular sides and shoving the personnel in a corner by his torso. "Don't you think about it, slinthead. Get over there."

"You will regret this."

"I don't think so. Quiet." She saw Newt grabbing gauze out of a cabinet to bind their hands, tossing her one. 

"Tie them up." Minho ordered, his gun inclining at Doctor Crawford. "Her, first."

"They'll catch you." Doctor Crawford grimly said, her eyes seriously focused on Newt's tight weaving on her wrists, making her flinch. 

She merely stared at her and she inhaled slowly, beginning to bind another doctor's hands together behind their back. "Thomas, is Teresa alright?"

"She's alive." He inquired and he was readying her to stand. "Can you walk?"

"Yeah.." She mumbled, holding onto him and the medical tray by her bed. 

"Uhh.. Big problem, guys!" Frypan was like a deer in headlights, getting away from the door. "They're coming!" 

Minho had no choice but to get them to stop binding the employee's, his bottom lip trembling. "T-Thomas! How are we getting out of here?!"

Newt and her both had the same idea, seeing a table next to them. They flipped it like they had lost a game of Monopoly, then brought it to the door with excruciating grunts, the door popping open but not all the way. They could barely even reach the light switch if they stuck their arm out through it. She decided to stay and hold it as Thomas needed help breaking down a glass wall that was structured on a half wall, letting out a shriek when the soldier bumped his shoulder harshly on the door, making her scrape her boots on the floor. 

Minho threw the gun to Thomas then flocked to her to pick her up, the armed people not budging the table. It was a heavy ass table. Right as she was brought over the shards of glass that jutted from the walls' nooks and crannies, she was frozen when she witnessed Thomas shooting someone with the weapon. 

It didn't shoot bullets, it had these balls or a pincher device that attaches to a body part and shocks them enough to make them pass out. That was not as scary as dying on the spot, but.. That was creepy that they had this stash of guns around like it was nothing to be scared of. Minho pushed her along after everyone knew the man he shot wasn't worth sticking around, their pants and breaths ringing around. 

Static was in the air, and she wanted a second pair of lungs to keep up with how Minho had all this stamina. The man was seizuring when they hopped and went around him, her face looking over her shoulder to see it in between moments. Sucks to be him. 

"Don't look back!" He commanded, taking her hand in his and tugging her roughly. "Don't stop!"

She could sense her eyes create a stinging sensation, her knees cracking as they slowed down to a stop, this door was their last resort and Thomas was dead set on the ID card working, watching him swipe it multiple times. It wasn't shucking working! He had given her the gun to hold and she held it feebly, not sure what to do with it. It wasn't something she wanted to be responsible for. 

"Damn it!" He swore vehemently when the keypad would burn red. It wasn't cooperating and she didn't want to be taken by Janson. "Work!"

A gentle voice sprang to their ears and Thomas snatched the gun out of her hands to aim it at the voice, the ID card dropping from his clutch.

"Thomas.."

"Open the door! Open the  _shucking_ door!"

"I can't let you do that!" He countered.

"Do it!"

"You won't last a day out there in the Scorch!" Janson growled. "The Cranks will kill you, surely!"

Thomas's face was primal, instincts kicking in as she was swiping the card like a mad man. It had to work. It had to. This wasn't right. She had to sweep her expressions from Newt, to Minho, then to Frypan or Teresa, their faces matching hers. 

"Trust me, I want what's best for you." He reasoned with a sickly sweet tone, making a small patter of his shoes, indicating he wanted to feign that he was a man of his word. 

"Yeah?"

"Yes."

He scoffed. "WICKED is good, eh?"

A sinister facade washed over Janson's aged features. She knew he wasn't who tries to appear as. She wanted to take the gun herself and try and shoot him. "You won't get through that door."

She let this flimsy card go in it's slider, and it turned green. She couldn't make a sound, it wouldn't work adamantly for the past minute and now it did? It lifted and she saw Aris on the other side, his sheepish smile significant. 

"Hey there."

"Now's not the time!" She exasperated then rushed with Minho into the opening, waiting for Thomas to head after them. He was staying on the spot to hold Janson with his gun, the armed men that he had, had no weapons at all. Probably from Ava's directions to not harm them under any circumstance. She was mistaken to make that decision. 

Spraying them with the shocker balls, the cache emptied rather fast, and he had no choice but to dip from the situation. Janson was telling his team to close the main door, and it started to go down, Minho and everyone motivating him by screaming that he got this and he needed to go faster. 

" _Come_ on!" Newt screeched and used his hands to cup around his lips, their voices booming. 

He slid his body like he hit third base, having to sprawl like a cat and stand as it's locks clicked in place. Aris breaks the switch with a crackle and it sputtered sparks, Janson watching the scene unfold before him. He glared with all his might, hands on the window to see them.

She smirked triumphantly as Thomas flipped him off boldly, deciding to mimic him for her own good reasons. Janson was a bastard. And he was lucky she didn't get to strangle him. Minho grabs a backpack full of supplies, slapping on their shoulders. "We gotta go!"

It was about 5 minutes of hopping over obstacles and tables or various wires, swinging around the pillars and many poles that had electricity sockets. It powered the whole 'lobby' of the building, where they let people in or out to the Scorch. She saw Thomas feel around on the front gates, tugging a lever and having to back up to have the heated and dry air explode on their bodies. 

It rippled their clothes and she could almost tell there was sand creeping it's way in her pants and socks. "Ugh! It's dark out there!"

"Get to the sand dunes!" Newt showed where they should go, running right out of WICKED's base, Teresa doing her best to not breathe through her mouth. Sand storm raging on; it provided camouflage and invisibility from the nemesis that was bringing out dirt bikes and search teams. They wanted them _that_ badly. It rocked her to her core, and she bumped into Winston more than she'd like to, his hands grappling onto the loose substance under them, as if it'll help climb up the hills. 

It seemed endless to go up these sand hills, but it would work out in the long run to get over it. "Minho!" She panicked as she was slipping and he reached out blindly to clasp her elbow and wrist, getting her to be at level with him. 

"I got you!"

"Stay low!" Newt whispered when they all got on the opposite side of the hills, Minho's body practically being on top of her back and pressing her head down to not see the flashlights searching rapidly. 

"Stay low.." Minho reciprocated into her ear, and she put out a thumbs up that she heard his warning. 

"They're getting closer." Thomas's legs squiggled and smoothed on the sand, having to slide. "We have to move. We can't stay here."

She whimpered at the heat that the sand gave off, as if she'd get burned, it was that hot. "Ow, shuck!" She swore under her breath as best as she could, squeezing her eyes shut. Her pain tolerance definitely didn't last in the Maze, it was probably by her sustaining a different mind set. Minho had to drag her up and off the hill, hunching their shoulders to stay out of the range of the drivers. 

Teresa was ahead of them and they discovered a sunken building, the windows being swathed in sand and dirt, clearly unable to give insight. She tried anyways, except she stopped at a particular hole in the window that they could enter in. It wasn't the best option, but they had to, they needed shelter! Thomas shouted for Teresa to not go inside but she went against him, her feet sand-boarding downwards. They followed albeit not wanting to, Minho letting go of her for a fraction of a second. 

Once he did, she tripped while going down, stumbling into Winston, his body jolting and having to balance itself out. It gave out and they both tumbled, her head knocking into a desk. She gave a silent cry and curled up to hold her head, spine terse. "S-Shuck!" Winston was at aid to get him to stand and she was busy shielding a blossoming bruise on her temple. 

Her cut had reopened on her cheek, the stitches having come apart and it seeped down, the sand could get it infected and she needed treatment. Minho was extremely concerned and he was wide-eyed, planting his fingers on her chin and tilting her head for him to see the damage. "You hurt yourself easily, shank.."

"This happens in nearly a two day span, I don't wanna hear it." She sassed; her lip luckily not busted. "I'm good." 

"Lemme see your head." He moved her hands from the spot and combed her hair aside, his fingertips tenderly palpitating. Every time he did, she'd make herself smaller and smaller, the sounds of pain making him guilty. He pulled her into a hug in apology, his palm cradling the back of her skull and not touching the wound. "I'm glad I brought supplies."

"Let's wait until we find camp." She was ignorant to her injury and she couldn't wait until they did find a safe area to rest. This wasn't the place to discuss such topics. 

Thomas got everyone's attention by flicking his flashlight on, Newt's and Minho's coming on in following his actions. They couldn't see a thing other than the outline of figures until they put them on. "Where are we?"

"Seems abandoned." Frypan mumbled, his eyes going up to the caved in parts of the ceiling. 

"We should start scouring every inch of this." Thomas was getting down to business, walking away. Teresa quipped that she needed to know what was happening and she actually forgot that she had no idea what was going on in the inside of their squad or why they left. How pure, to not know what they saw in that lab room. Teresa wanted an inkling at most. 

"There was bodies. Dead.. Strung up. Like they're drained of whatever they had."

"Don't forget those alien things in tubes." She picked a grain of sand out of her ear hole. 

"They were WICKED. They always were, and when we found out, they were going to give us up to the Creators."

Teresa's blue orbs studied on Thomas and he was sighing, clearly frustrated at how he could continue this load of shit. Aris swallowed nervously then said, "They- Well, Janson, was talking about this thing called The Right Arm. Like a resistance. In the mountains. Does that mean anything?"

"Right.. Arm..? The Right Arm." He repeated Aris's words then it seemed to click in his head. 

"Right Arm?" Newt questioned skeptically. "What about a plan? You have one?"

That was something that stirred up conflict in Thomas's gut. Minho was tired of listening to everyone go back and forth like this was a debate to who has the most info than another, his flashlight going over worker desks and tables, wires hanging in some spaces. Silence was not what she enjoyed and she saw Thomas use his hands to demonstrate his sentence. 

"Maybe The Right Arm-"

"That's the plan?" Newt was flabbergasted. "You're not shucking serious?"

She rolled her eyes then walked with Minho, seeing how he was distracted by the way their voices traveled. She blinked and shuffled her feet in the sand below, then it caught her eye. Prints! "Minho, give me a light." He obeyed her request and faced it where she wanted, them both smiling at each other. Leave it to the couple detective to see this while they're being busy bees behind them. 

"Guys, there was people here." Minho introduced them to the foot prints and it trailed up to go inside the shadowy depths of offices. "Let's check it out and see what we find."

 

* * *

 

Pulling the steel shutter to go up and get everyone to go in, Thomas saw useful things they'll need through survival, including clothes, cans of food and beds, which confirms Minho's words. "They all lived here.." He said with sorrow, and he watched Minho's girlfriend brush off a jacket and tug it on, his eyelids hooding. "That's sad."

"I don't want to think about how long they did, that's the worst part." She murmured, zipping it up half way up her torso. "We have to worry about ourselves."

"Good that." Newt grimaced then checked out a box full of canned goods clearly expired. 

"We should split up and see what we find from areas of this building. It must be huge. I'll take Minho and her with me." Thomas begrudgingly let Teresa be away from his sight and he snapped his fingers for his friends to go with him. 

 

Minho and her were tightly knit, barely apart, and she had to hold onto his hand whenever she heard a rat scurrying across them to get to it's destination. He wanted her safe, so he'd grip her passionately by their fingers, reassuring her every single time. "It's alright. We're good."

"I sure hope so." She whispered; her flashlight going over posters that belonged to a teenager like them, perhaps. "There was kids.."

"Don't think about it."

"I can't help it, babe." She exhaled anxiously, her thumb running over his for comfort. "There could have been many.."

He turned her to face him and he let go of their hands to cup her cheeks, flashlight illuminating the ceiling above them. "Please. I don't want you to think of those things." His mono lids blinked and his lips were pulled in a light line. "We've been through too much to think about more pain."

"Minho.." She could see the pain in his expression and she felt his strong hands, his kiss on her forehead evident that he was connected to her no matter what. "I appreciate it."

"Do me a favor."

"What is it?"

"Don't think I'll die. I won't die."

"I know you won't." She sniffed then squeezed his triceps. "I never will."

" _We_ won't die."

"Exactly."

Smiling proudly at her, he kissed her lips next, they might be chapped slightly but she enjoyed it none the less, fingers digging into his tan skin. They broke for a split minute to take some air, foreheads touching. "Shuck, Minho, you're.."

"I'm what?" He asked curiously. 

"If you were to ever be gone, or taken from me, I'll do anything to get you back." She gritted out, seriousness settling in. "Anything."

He tilted her head up to see him furrowing his brows at her. "I'd come back to you. I won't go down without swinging."

"Me too. I'd kill for you."

To not bear with her words, he shoved her head into his chest and he held her there, sensing her arms coming around his waist. "Shut up. Don't say that." His hands pushed her to meet his flat chest, and he shuddered. 

"I would. I'm not lying."

"Shut. Up." He didn't want it to be like this.. Where killing would have to be the answer if one of them would be taken from one another. It wasn't right, it wasn't how life should be. 

 

Thomas and Minho walked side by side, since she wanted to look at some stuffed animals in the corner. It was raggedy and dusty, so she had to blow on the beady eyes and pull the strings out of odd crevices. Tables were littered with garbage or eaten clean cans, silverware rusty or moldy. It smelled awful, the scents meshing, having to filtrate the air by her shirt. Who knows how bacterial it could get. She saw pictures of families strewn on a coffee table and she leaned down to it, her index finger and middle finger wiping on their faces to see what they were. 

Minho bumped Thomas softly then stopped them from walking. "Hey.. I don't wanna end up like those kids.. Back there. You hear me?"

Listening to him and realizing what he meant, he dropped his flashlight to his side. "Yeah, man. I hear you."

"We have to look for survivors, right?"

"Signs of life, more like."

In their tracks of searching, Minho set his light on an armchair facing away from them. They could make out parts of a plastic bag and a head from the top of it, and he clenched his jaw. "What about him?" Thomas saw the figure too, and he hesitatingly moved to the chair, afraid that the thing would spring up and attack. It wasn't safe, for sure..

"Greenie, get over here."

She piqued to see them standing around a chair and she came up to them, not seeing why they were staring at the form. Until she saw that the man had suffocated by a wrapped plastic bag around his neck, hissing then turning to shield her eyes. "Jeez-!"

His fingers twisted the knob on the lamp but it didn't turn on, eventually coming to the fact they had electricity. "Thomas, why would they have lights?" He suggested in a tone that got Thomas to piece it together. He already got right to it, the wires under them leading up to a big wall strip of sockets and wires. 

 

Following the wires that lead up to a Generator, Minho wanted to see if any of the switches worked on the old thing, his flashlight being set down next to his knee. "Hmm.. Let's see if we can fire this baby up."

Thomas and her scanned the room then she thought to herself,  _I'm spooked by this place.. Wait, what was that?_

It was like a shock fence that prisons would use to keep prisoners inside, and she frowned, feeling it. Obviously it wasn't exactly a shock fence, but it made her confused. What were they closing off? She saw bright colors of vivid pink and pale shades of more stuffed animals, in the fence or on the floor, stacking on top of one another. 

Thomas saw it too, noting the candles and prayer cards that were set up. It was like a shrine for a dead baby girl. She couldn't handle it, seeing that many gifts for her, she must be very loved. She felt a few of the tinkers and trinkets, unsure how she could have died. It must have been a big death to the family living here. 

Dead flowers in a vase got her to feel it's shriveled petals, and she had this urge to crush it in her hand. She couldn't remember the last time she saw a real flower in it's full blossoming stage, lively and breathing. 

Minho saw two flip switches and he tucked them up, pushing buttons and feeling skilled in this. "Eh, it can't be that hard."

Thomas was getting closer to the fence to peer inside and so did she, getting by his side. "What's that on the inside? A bed?" They both took a moment then it was final. That was a bed. There was a girl in there. But she wasn't in that bed they saw. 

She got her feet to shuffle back inch by inch. "Are you thinking what I'm thi-"

The Generator kick started and lights blew up in every section of the building, Minho standing and grinning. Thomas was incredulous to everything and he instantly felt that the bed inside was for use and the shrine was not for it's actual purpose. She still had her light on the bed, eyes squinting even with the lights being turned on one by one. 

As the light in the center of their room burst with life, that girl in the photos clings onto the fence in front of her, her deranged screaming and head twisting and twitching making her gasp and shout in horror. Her eyes- They were gone, or they were pitch black! It was clawing through the fence to try and get her and she stumbled backwards to Minho's feet, her flashlight flung out to the side. 

"Her eyes!" She shrieked and couldn't look away, it was terrifying and she couldn't explain the situation. Minho and Thomas nearly held on to each other and they were swiveling in their spot to noises coming at every angle. "H-Her eyes, shuck-!"

What was that thing! That girl wasn't the girl she saw in the pictures!

Minho lifted her by her arm pits and groaned, them three averted their eyes to see a man who seemed homeless, but he too, was far gone like the girl screaming and raging in her confines. They had woken something dark in the place and wasn't the best tool in the shed to do something this silly. The man's body movements were jutting and broken, as if he hadn't moved his limbs in months or years. He prepared to attack them, his wild chanting making her hairs stand on end. 

She grabbed a pipe from next to the Generator as she was brought up by Minho, her arm swinging and it hit the person lunging at her, the man convulsing on the ground not too far from them. "We gotta run!"

Doing as she said and dragging her along, they ran to the double doors that would give them some rescue, closing them in a shattering moment, people were crowding the door and pushing on it roughly to get in after them. They were all crazy, deluded in reality and wanted to hurt them. They were mind less and looked like zombies. 

She struggled to hold the door but used all her strength she had left. No flashlight, no way of seeing except for Thomas and Minho's left over equipment. She whined and growled against the force of the people, shoulders moving in a wavering motion. Minho's eyes locked with her and he was doing his best also, having to come up with a new plan. "Move when I tell you to!"

"What!" She panics at his words and then watches him push himself off the door and the budge of the doors caused her to lose her footing, dangerously trying to hold them back alone with Thomas. She flusters herself with him, not wanting them to break in on any chance. Her fate wasn't ready. 

"Move!" He yelled loudly, his hands maneuvering a unit to block the doors. 

Thomas had to move her since she couldn't catch what he said, in time for it to crash and collide with their previous stance. Replacing them for a spare moment, Minho and Thomas ran with her further most down the hall to get to the group. "Let's get out of this place!"

" _Good that!_ "

 

They saw escalators leading them up, it reminded her of a mall. It was most likely a mall of some sort. She didn't bother holding onto the immobilized handles, racing time with them to warn the others that they were in danger. She could practically hear them desperately going over the unit to get to them, their feet rapidly hitting the tiles. 

Newt, Frypan, Teresa, and Winston were waiting around for them patiently, thinking nothing was absolutely wrong with their situation. Then they heard the frantic screams and yelps for them to run. Newt was the first to see her waving her arms around, then Minho who was running faster than he thought he ever could. Thomas continued, "Hey! _Run!_ You guys! _Hey!"_

 _"Go!"_ She roared, the people, possibly named Cranks, were on their tail. 

 

Let it begin. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Drop the kudos if you like this series. I know 2018 is soooo far away for the third movie, but.. Yeah. After this story is over for the Scorch Trials, this will have to be complete until it comes out.


	3. Struck

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Running, and a whole lot of running for these Gladers. That's all they seem to do, not catching a break at all. Minho notices the Reader's in shock reaction to risky situations, making her either numb or distant to anything that comes at them. At a point, they are hindered in their traveling and the will to live is scarce.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had done so much studying even though it's was the third day of school for me; I believe I'm doing well.  
> As for notes for this second installment!  
> Please, you must understand. The Reader is someone I believe others can learn from. As for it being in third person, I want it to be an experience to think if this could be you, or a similar character you can imagine in this situation! :3  
> I thought it's crucial to make a scenario where not every single time will it be happy go lucky or you'll be able to see into the future of this story, I want things to be unexpected, but be in touch with sadness, or depression, because mental health is very noted for the books, and movie. 
> 
> So yes, the Reader can either have emotional tears, or emotional distance. It's not a pick or choose kind of thing, it's what I feel is correct for the dramatic effect, or to hit home in the honey nut feelio's. And no- This won't lose it's fluff or affection, there will be a couple of chapters where it has it in there. I never forget about it. But you have to remember, the original story is all about action and fight and flight responses. So.. To say.. I am crunching everything together and it's not that simple, yet I try my best, because everyone loves when Minho can make you smile or go "ugh omg pls". That's all I'd like for the Readers to understand. Thank you!

Shadows of Cranks chasing after them and flashlight's barely making it possible to see ahead of them, they caught up to their group that was beginning to run too, and her legs practically felt like they'd fall off. They needed to get to higher grounds, in which they went up a pair of escalators, the sounds of their feet stomping on metal. She calculated there was about two to three floors, maybe four. It was a pain, the escalators haven't been activated in many years. 

Her hair blown behind her and free, she slipped, losing her balance, her palms smacking the ground. The next thing she knew was that a Crank tackled her and it drove her body into a railing, it breaking by the force of the Crank. Pain exploded into her ribs and she yelled. The Crank was shoved by her frantic hands, pushing and shoving to get the thing off, and she turned her face away when it tried to bite at her nose. She screeched then swung her fist, the connection being inevitable and it's body fell back, going right over the rail.

She took off soon after, zooming past Aris who hit a Crank in the leg and making it trip, so she had to hop over the fallen enemy when it hit the ground with a thud. She couldn't stand the sound of those zombie like humans, they moaned and shrieked, some with laughter and others with horrifying screaming. It was the worst mixture she's ever heard in her life. They were affected from something to make them that way and she couldn't focus on it, she needed to focus on getting up the third escalator. 

She swiveled in time to drop kick a Crank by the chest, watching it tumble and making the Cranks behind him fall like domino's. 

There was more following suit after she gave a brave smile, it being wiped clean. No time for bravery, this is about survival. Shuck.

"Ugh!" Teresa threw a brick at them, not caring where it landed or who it hit, she had to move sharply to avoid it. 

"Teresa, watch it!" She snapped in frustration. 

They reached the highest point of the mall, Minho's boots were sliding against broken glass and crusted tiles hurriedly, muscles taught and flexing with every thing he did. His tan skin shone even in the dim lighting and he was sweating like crazy from going up literally four flights of escalator steps with the Gladers, hair blown back and his eyebrows were put together in trying to see in the dark. He was about to open a door until Newt had to be rescued by a Crank, but Thomas grappled the thing and overthrew it of the balcony, the splat being faint. 

"Go through, go!" He hit their backs with his palm and shut it to at least slow them down from chasing them. "Go straight!"

"There might be a dead end!" Frypan announced, his panic was not needed. 

It was a narrow passage way that seems to be a background outlet for workers to work on utilities back in the day, her hands feeling the walls and looking at the wires and pipes that ran along them too, she was confused of where they were going. Was this remotely close to an exit? She doesn't think so.

Just as Frypan predicted, they were met with locked doors, and they all had to take turns trying to bust it down, their groans and impatient hitting having her cover her mouth to hush her whimper. This was it. This was it. The Cranks were already breaking in on the opposite end and they were coming right at them. 

Then she thought of what was best when Winston pulled out his pistol that he took off that guy back in the WICKED department. She moved to him and snatched it roughly, stancing herself and not blinking for one second, she decided to shoot wisely. She aimed for the heads of those who were running upright and not on the floor. 

Bam. A Crank went down. 

Shot again; another Crank saw it's demise. The feel of the gun was unfamiliar and she could tell she didn't have trouble with this. It's hard to be responsible for a death of something that wasn't human in the slightest. This is different. Holding her breath then shooting bullet after bullet, she thought it'd be better to save a few rounds and attempted to leave her position. 

She sprinted and yet she was clasped by the ankle, they dived for her, their nails digging into her calves. She shouted in agony and kicked, Minho and Newt pulling her by her forearms and elbows, in time for them to not take a bite out of her like she was meat. Winston instead got tugged into the lot, everyone doing their best to get him out. His body was being swallowed up, up to his neck in Crank limbs and they tore at his shirt, biting and scratching and doing anything they could to make him suffer. 

Blood sprayed and littered on Winston's lower half and she grunted when they got him out, Minho having to hold the door with Thomas. Newt and Frypan had put Winston's arms around their shoulders then jogged up the wide available vicinity to leave this retched area. Their veins and grubby paws hit on the door and snaked their way on it, trying to get in. Minho's face contorted into disgust and beat on them, his eyes in slits. 

"Gross!"

"We have to run, Minho!" She warned, there was too many of them piling up. 

He glanced from the hands on the door and then Thomas, nodding curtly. They let go of the door on a subconscious count to three and jolted, his hand taking hers and going after their group. Cars were randomly placed in their environment, it's either a parking lot or anything she couldn't name at that moment. She didn't want to stay long to drink it in. It seemed to be close to where they originally started in the Mall and climbed over chunks of the caved in ceiling, her shoes seeming like they'd fall apart by how much she did to them. 

They found a part of the caved ceiling that was hooded, them all huddling together like penguins and not daring to move in their spots. 

 

* * *

 

 

Everyone had maneuvered into sleeping dispositions, the running they did taking all their energy out of them. She was frightened deep down, using Minho as a crutch to overcome pain that was throbbing in her legs and arms and hands. Every joint had hurt and caused torment to her, and she couldn't sleep at all. She put her body against his and she shook like a leaf, her bottom lip trembling. This was uncomfortable to live with. 

Minho did his best to comfort her, rubbing her head and back with both hands. He was tender to her wounds, having did what he could to patch them up with ripped fabric to stop the bleeding. He held her between his legs, his eyes fluttering and looking at the top of the hooded ceiling. "Shh.."

She listened to his soothing sounds, then picked shards of glass out of his arm, his winces being held back for the sake of not making a peep. 

"Ow." He mouthed.

"S-Sorry." She hushed. Her thirst was growing and she knew it wasn't time to unzip his backpack. "I thought that it hurt you."

"It's fine." His adam's apple bobbed anxiously. "Are you good?"

"No." She was being honest and she could tell he was exhausted. His head was on it's side and resting on a rolled up blanket that Teresa had brought and shared. "Are you that tired?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" He sassed, raising his eyebrow at nothing in particular. 

She didn't answer that, instead massaging his muscles through his jacket. He was still sweaty but she doesn't care, she was as sweaty as him probably. She leaned up of his body and snuggled him, sniffing. She hoped that he didn't mind, he was all she had other than her friends that snored lightly. "Minho, don't go to sleep."

"I ne-" He was going to say he needed it, but her snuggling caused him to feel bad for her. It wasn't fair to let her be this scared on her own. He sighed a little, his free hand now raising to squeeze her back muscles, sliding her to be on his side instead of on top of his body. He got her up to his level and he made sure to look at her this time. 

"Please?"

"I'll stay up for a minute."

"Okay. Don't look away from me."

"I won't."

She licked her lips then stared at his half open orbs, blinking gently. "..I love you, Minho."

"What?"

"I love you." She said quickly from his question, and she didn't waver. This was a make it or break it.

"Greenie.." He didn't know what to say, especially because he's pretty sure they weren't the only ones awake. Not that he wouldn't mind if they heard her confession, but he didn't know if this was the emotional state she could say that in. 

"I do. Do you?" She touched his face and felt his skin, the sweat having dried up. "I need to know."

He parted his lips then closed them, his eyes scanning her face and he couldn't string a sentence together. This would be the first time he'd open his heart like this, other than liking her since she was put in this mess. "You shank, you say the strangest things, sometimes."

Strange?

She frowned and she was about to glide her palm off his face, her head hurt. Was that supposed to be a normal reaction? She was looking away and thought of the worst. 

"I love you too." He suddenly said in response to her upsetting action and he brought her hand back up to his cheek. "I thought you told me to not look away. You don't look away either." 

She gasped and hitched her breath, her smile slowly creeping up. "Minho, you shuck-face." 

"What?" He cheekily responded; nuzzling into her hand.

"You scared me for a minute there."

Her heart was filled with affection and love for this boy, and she could tell that he was genuine. Minho closed his eyes abruptly and he remained grinning. "Alright. It's been a minute. Let me sleep." It didn't take long for him to fall asleep that hard, but once he did, she couldn't wake him for anything. She watched him for around ten minutes and stroked through his hair and ears, admiring his features and having given him raining kisses on his forehead and nose. 

She made sure she was quiet, to not alert the group or the Cranks. 

 

Travelling semi safely to the outside of the mall, she lifted her gaze to the orange and yellow sky mixed with white murky clouds that reminded her of sugar cubes you'd put in tea or coffee. She took a moment to look back at their resting place and it was under a highway, she couldn't recognize it until she saw it's curve.  The weather was hot and she was woken up by Thomas and Minho, her body feeling as bad as the day previously. 

Going up the hill to Minho who was at the peak of all it's glory, she was going to say something regarding if he slept good, but he took the side of her face in one of his hands, making her look to the scenery and complexes of buildings that were burned down. They.. They used to have people living in them and now their ashes and barely standing on their own. How could this happen?

Streets plastered with garbage, burnt building structures, lamp posts damaged, and a bridge was in half like it was a twig pretty far out. 

Walking down the streets made her think of how it used to be and how it would've been modernized in this day in age, the technology that WICKED had could've made these buildings lively again.. 

She took her time with Minho, her head looking up to him. "Do you remember anything about yourself?"

"What do you mean?"

"As in like.. Your parents?"

"I don't remember much." He had already figured in his mind that they were already dead and long gone when he was taken from his home. Whether WICKED killed them or such, he didn't want to know. He was actually glad he didn't know. Better off not knowing than to be full of sorrow. 

"My parents are dead."

He whipped his head at her and he pursed his lips. Why was she ready to say such a thing out of nowhere?

She locked their sights then stopped in her tracks at the same time as Thomas, breaking it to look at Thomas. "What is that?" She could hear something flying in the air, but towards the towers. They were still being followed, but by air?

"What's what?" Newt overheard her question and he got closer, leering at anything that seemed to be the cause of noise. 

Thomas bounced on the balls of his feet then gestured them all to get under an awning of concrete, their bodies sliding in and brushing rocks aside, all of them looked to the sky. It had faded to baby blue hues.. It was simple. The awning provided them enough invisibility and a guard vehicle in the sky was humongous, as if it could hold an army inside. 

Much bigger than a shucking helicopter, for shuck's sake. They were being hunted down.

She got out from her space next to Thomas and Winston, wiping her pants from dust and dirt. She was distraught with herself of why she did that, adjusting the book bag's sling on her shoulder blade then trudging ahead without them. Being in a manhunt bothered her. 

 

Rocks and rocks. Ooh, and guess what! Rocks. Digging her boots into the rough textures, she saw into her surroundings of the lost city, it's bits and mirages being far yet close to touch and taste. It gave her a bitter taste in her mouth. Mountains amongst the fog come from the remaining clouds, her hand going over her eyes to see it. "There they are.."

"Yep." Thomas shuffled his shoe into the hill, making sure he doesn't tip over. This sand dune was unstable and they had to hold onto each other. "That's where they should be."

"Look, there is a bridge over there. Think we can stay there for the night?" Teresa asked Thomas.

"Yeah. It's our option unless we'll be lying in the sun to be as crisp as a potato chip." Frypan rolled his eyes. 

"Enough, guys." He ran a hand through his hair and shrugged his shoulders, making his eyes smaller to see the mountains clearer. "It'll take us a day or so to get there."

"Then let's hurry up." Newt got them to unhinge their stances and restart their motivating strides, but Winston fell forward, fainting outright. They gasped and rushed to his body, getting his face out of the sand for him to not breathe it in. He looked awful.. And he was slowing them down. 

She didn't have time to realize Winston was getting really sick, and she gawked at them, especially Teresa's caretaker instincts coming up. Since when did she pay attention to Winston's well being? Minho was asking Winston deftly if he was okay, and Newt was curious to see if his lungs were working, listening to his chest. 

His breathing was faint, but it was there. 

She went numb, watching Winston becoming weaker by the second. "What's wrong with you," Minho gaped at her from his shoulder. "Come and help us lift him!" She flinched at his words then stuttering her foot steps, she came to Winston and helped lift him to stand with her friends. She couldn't feel anything for Winston's sake, she was dark in her thoughts. He wasn't going to make it. 

Creating a makeshift sling to hold him in and get him up hill, she monitored him from behind and made sure she didn't catch him rolling off to the side or curling up to make it difficult on them for holding his weight. 

 

Turns out the time they went north of the Scorch, the bridge Teresa pointed out went downhill. They couldn't sleep on a downhill slope, that's physically impossible to be stable. "Lovely, Teresa." She managed to say, and she gained a dirty look from her. "You pick  _this_ as shelter? I could've already told you guys that this wasn't a flat plain." 

"I didn't know it from all the way over there, smart ass." 

Sneering and standing up to her, she glared at her emotionless staring. "Call me that again and see where it gets you."

"Slim it, the both of you." Newt got Teresa to go to Thomas and he used his index finger to nudge her to take a step. "I get that you're grumpy and obviously fed up with the heat, but so are we. Don't take it out on her. She didn't know."

She leaned forward and could nearly touch noses with Newt if he was to do the same. "She led us to walk miles. _Miles._ To come to this forsaken bridge that we can't stay at. We're supposed to walk an extra couple of miles because of her being blind?"

Teresa was going to speak up and defend herself but Thomas held her arm in his hand. 

Minho wasn't expecting her to be like that to Newt and he tugged her away from being in Newt's face. "Hey, you don't do that, shank. That isn't necessary."

"Like Teresa's commentary?" She remarked, crossing her arms. Her boyfriend's hand came on her mouth and it was firm, his nose slimming in annoyance. She really was getting tired of walking and running and going through sand storms and being with another girl who didn't know a god damn thing about mapping things out. 

Newt was offended but was silent, looking from Thomas and Teresa. "Well." He didn't want to cause more arguments; taking no one's side, especially the newbie's. "We have to keep walking. No one wants to sleep in the sun. Mate, keep a leash on her." He instructed to Minho and he let go of her mouth, getting her to go. 

 _"I need a leash?"_ She was going to turn and hurl an insult, Minho permanently putting his hands on her waist to twist her and ignored her petulant complaints. 

 

* * *

 

 

The fifth sand storm went over them in the past few hours, and it had them use their shirts, or shawls, or anything to shield their nose and mouth, as well as their eyes. She wished that they had goggles or picked up some at the WICKED headquarters since they had plenty. 

Sand whips around crazily, her scarf wrapped around 70 percent of her face, filtering what she can and can't. They found a place to stay for a moment by a highway pillar that was broken, mainly to wait for the storm to die down. "Ugh.." She sat herself with Minho and noticed him pulling out a water bottle, taking a refreshing gulp of it. She put her hand out and he passed it to her, knowing she'd need it. She took a sip respectfully since it isn't hers, and cradled it in her hands, bowing her head. 

Teresa walks away to go to Thomas who was not involved with the group under the shade, making her exhale in relief. She didn't have to deal with her dullness. Winston's breathing can be heard in the background, his body laying up against a bundle of fabric to ease the earth under him and not cause him further pain to his Crank wounds. 

She slowly stands to think about something she'd been thinking about from the start. She needed something to do it though and it was crucial. 

"Hey Fry.. You got anything sharp to cut with?"

"Ahh.. I found scissors back at the mall."

"Can I have it?"

"Yeah, sure." He fished it out of his pack and gave it to her. "Why do you-"

To not answer him, she made her way around Minho, refusing to look him in the eye. Minho was already suspicious of her intentions and turned in his seat, he saw her put the water bottle by his thigh, replacing her. Why did she need them?

Surely, it wouldn't be too bad to lose a couple of inches of hair. Or a lot of it. Minho, Thomas, Newt.. I mean, even Frypan have short hair. Her hair was getting in the way, and made her sweat excessively when she'd run with them. Having hair ties was not even close to a thought, there rarely was any. She had collected one, only to use it this time. She tied her hair into a ponytail that set in the middle of her scalp and she didn't have a mirror. She'd do it. 

It wasn't a necessity. It was hair. That's all it was. 

She didn't care how she'd look with short hair. It'd be a struggle to keep it. 

She prepares to saw into it, closing her eyes. Then hands come over her wrists and gets her to lower the blades, her side eye coming to her boyfriend who was oblivious. "What are you doing?"

He had went after her to watch in curiosity and wanted to stop her from doing this. Why did she want to get rid of her hair? "I'm cutting it off, what do you think I'm doing?"

Getting to the gist of her choices, he took the scissors from her. She didn't protest. "You don't have a mirror."

"So?"

"I'll do it for you."

"You will?" She was perplexed. 

"Yeah. I won't let you do this on your own."

"You wouldn't?"

"Come on. I wouldn't let you look uglier than what you already look." He smirked smugly, her response being immediate and pushing at his chest. 

"You little-"

He laughed then calmed her down by kissing her lips lightly, her lips pouted. "Relax. Turn around and let me cut it."

Strands of hair fell pleasantly and along the time of cutting it, his fingers getting any stray ones to fall too. He cleaned up the sides and over the tips of her ears, her bangs being subtle like a pixie cut but not precisely. The back wasn't that choppy and neither was the front, he cut what he saw was fit and she didn't cry or anything. 

She wanted this, after all. 

"There we are. The new you."

"Is it okay?"

"I did it, it looks awesome." He took pride in his confidence and he smoothed her hair down, fluffing it up in some areas. "Feel it."

"Wow.." She felt through the back of her head and it was shorter than she thought. But it was okay. She'd sweat less. "I feel itchy."

"It'll pass. I didn't nick your ears, which is good." 

"Yeah.." She was jovial, her profound hair pooled around her shoes. "Do you like girls with short hair?"

"As long as they're not taller than me, hair isn't a problem." He muttered, bending his back to get closer in her face. "You look cute."

"Thank you." She managed a shy smile and felt he was being cheesy. "Don't be corny."

"I'm not being _corny_ , I'm complimenting you, slinthead."

"Uh huh." 

Squeaking at a gun shot going off, she went over the circle of hair to bring her hand to her lips. What the? Minho and her came to see Winston on the floor and coughing up blood, his hands reaching out for the gun in Frypan's hand. He was pleading that he get the gun back and she checked her pockets.. Winston must've took the gun from her while she was sleeping. 

"Winston.." She murmured. 

He pulled up his shirt to reveal his stomach, it was purple. He was infected. She felt the urge to vomit but held it back, her alarmed reaction to be grim. 

"It's getting bad."  
  
She held back a retort that it wasn't just bad, it was dreadful. 

"Please don't let me turn into those things.. I need to.."

The Glader's didn't need to be told twice, Newt ended up giving it to him to respect his request. Anyone would've asked for the same. He said goodbye and that was it. Then it was where she drawn the line of life and death. She couldn't stand it. She grabbed her backpack off the ground and she sucked up her emotions, evident in her eyes. She couldn't say goodbye. 

"It's okay." Is what Winston said before she walked far from the altercation, biting her tongue. 

Her chin showed how hard it was to hold in her reflex to this, them all having to let Winston go. 

 

The pistol went off. 

 

And he was gone, their legs freezing up and stopping. She finally let it rack up her body, stinging and salty tears going down her cheeks. It was hard to let go of one of their own. She didn't get to know him yet. It flowed constantly, them dropping onto the sand.

 

* * *

 

Having to search for a building or any source of housing wasn't easy in this city. It was like finding a needle in a haystack. They settled for another type of awning, the walls looked like a train cargo holding cell. It supported their bonfire outside, the crackle of it making her heart quake. 

"Winston got infected because of those things," Newt began. 

"Cranks." She interjected.

He took an agonizing glance at the newbie. 

"They're called Cranks."

"Okay. Then the Cranks made him get infected by purely biting or scratching him. We could have that happen to any of us."

They listened obediently to his words, and believed it. The Cranks; they have to avoid them to live. They're just blood thirsty and have inhuman ways of running and jumping at things. 

"Why is your hair short?" Thomas was not enthused by this conversation.

"I cut it."

"Ahh." 

Pause.

"Why that short?"

"It's easier for me to deal with."

"Why are you facing away from us?" Teresa cut in. 

She wrapped herself in a blanket burrito, straight right at the cargo's ribbed wall. She didn't want to convert her thoughts to a boy that killed himself to save himself. Blocking out their words, she fisted the blanket in her knuckles. "I want to be serene at the moment."

"I miss the Glade, man." Frypan mumbled. 

She could tell he was blubbering just from his tone. 

Her hunger had grown, the food was either expired or their was none to fetch at the mall, leaving them with grumbling tummies. 

 

Each day goes by in a snail like pace, the mountains seeming closer and closer. They have run out of water, which made them hungry  _and_ thirsty. They didn't know if they'd be able to survive after another day of this. Their lips were chapped, bodies malnourished and cravings egged their minds. 

"We need to rest.." She whispered, her tongue dry as ever. 

"It's the.. Third time. That we rested." Newt's accent was diminished at that point. 

"We gotta."

They all got down to the ground, bodies folded into themselves and twitching here and there. She stayed close to Minho, faintly touching his back and rubbing his sides. "We'll get through this."

 

Thunder happened to flash in the clouds, them raveling and prowling on the skies, patches of it intimidating the atmosphere. She stirred multiple times, holding her stomach and feeling like she'd rather die then deal with her organs wanting to feel better. She saw Thomas get up unsteadily and point at the horizon, getting her eyelids to raise to see it too. There was lights.. Lights!

She had hope!

Survivors!

She swallowed wryly and patted at Minho, Thomas's calls for everyone to get up being important. They could go to those lights and see if anyone could help them!

Reserved yet bleak, Newt saw the lights and then his brown eyes popped open. "Thomas.. Those are.."

"Yep."

Lightning struck the ground from behind and she had to clutch onto Minho's forearm in fear. This wasn't a regular storm, or a sand storm for that matter; and this looked like it'll rage for a while. The lightning started to hit the ground closer and closer to where they were and Thomas knew it wasn't okay to stay here, running while they had to follow him. "Don't look back!"

There was lightning hitting cars, the reflection and bounce of it making sparks. She hissed as she ran without stretching beforehand, holding Minho's hand tightly in hers and making sure they go together and not apart. She didn't want him to go off the path. The clouds grew a grayish black, dimming the life out of everything. 

The ground cracked under them, the lightning must be that strong. 

Running madly, wildly, soon the lightning would strike in intervals of seconds between, longer and shorter in volume. Thomas was advising them to never look back no matter what, and she went against it, doing it anyways. There was no rain, but the air was moist. 

The smell of smoking cars and sand wasn't a scent any one should experience, her backpack swinging on her back from how much she stressed to run away from the troubled heavens above. 

The building was coming to a head and she let go of M's hand for a split chance that she can run on her own and deemed it okay, her lungs tortured. He'd look up the sky multiple times, and she'd scream at him not to over the sound of growling thunder, his face bare with being scared shitless. 

"Never seen this before!" He responded in a revolted manner. They were almost at the foreign building!

 

A lightning bolt came down on the two of them in the center, her body flying to the left and strewn aside from Minho's, electrocution wasn't in her system but it probably was in her partner's.

She could make out Minho's figure smoking and lifeless, her reactions instantly going off and trying to get up to reach him.

No, no, no...

She could barely walk, Aris having to wrench her up by her under arm and limp her to the doors that Teresa and Frypan held open. She forgot Aris was even with them, he never talked or anything. Newt and Thomas got to Minho as Aris went in, the smoke radiating from his skin and clothes easily. She thought of the worst things that could happen.. Did his heart stop? "He can't be dead.." She wouldn't be able to handle it if he was gone. Not this..

They shut the door and bring Minho to the floor, leaning over him and getting in his business. "Minho! Minho?" Newt used his light so everyone could see his face and he was knocked out. 

"Minho, come on, dude.. Man.. Wake up." Thomas moved his face side to side, even slapped it a little bit. "Minho."

She gets close to Minho's head, stroking his temples and moving his bangs off of his forehead. "Gosh.."

Everyone repeatedly calls his name, shaking him by his jacket and by his jaw. His wailing moan came out and she felt her torso warm up. Oh thank.. Shuck.. The Glader's smiles were big and working, looking down at the Korean. She nearly collapsed her upper half, but kept her posture up, biting her bottom lip. Minho was alive. 

"Wha.. Wha' happen?" He barely could open his mono lids. 

She answered for Thomas and she caressed his ears. "Struck by lightning, shuck face." 

He cracked a beaming grin slightly at that. _"Woah."_

She catches him by his hips as he's stood up and propped by Newt and Aris, his boots scuffing. She was grateful to anyone or anything that let him live. She showered him with affection when her friends let go and she clung to him, tugging his hair and holding his head to her neck, his spine having to bend to be able to be intertwined with her. 

"I almost lost you.."


	4. Kaboom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Held captive by two individuals, they are interrogated and have to explain what their intentions are. The Right Arm is supposedly in the mountains, but the captors' people thinks they should be sold to WICKED to go to the safe haven.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like the little thing goin' on between the Reader and Teresa. I'd love feedback, as always. I love to hear what you like about it, or what's your favorite parts- I'm intuitive. 
> 
> I'm going to try and give you more shirtless Minho in the sequences. ; w ; Because why th e f U ck N OT

Teresa jutted her chin out, sniffing the air and being intent on finding out what that smell was. She was busy with tending to Minho, braising his face and squeezing him to her chest in hopes that she wasn't dreaming. He wasn't dead and it made her severely happy. He was fighting back a few groans here and there because of her holding his cheeks, his head was spinning and he tried his best to get her to settle.

Newt watched the ordeal with a smug smile, Minho was coddled by her basically and her hands wouldn't stop scouring his face and hair. 

"Minho.. Does it hurt? Where does it hurt the most?"

Laughing anxiously, he let her berate him, his eye smiles making her relieved. "I'm okay."

"You're sure?" She narrowed her gaze and petted his bangs, sighing. "You scared us."

"Sorry to pop the bubble.. But what's that smell?" Teresa noted to the Gladers, and they all began to sniff the air simultaneously. It was like rotten flesh. Decayed. She wrinkled her nose in distaste, and then shouted in surprise when a Crank came into her view, seething with anger to eat her. 

Thomas pulled her away from that Crank's direction and they all got in a circle, the room filling with yells of all different angles. They were surrounded with Cranks.. But the Crank's were held back? They used their flashlights to see that they were chained up, by limbs, their necks and lower halves, like dogs attached to street poles for that they didn't flee anywhere. They were strung up expertly, it didn't seem to break. 

She roughly counted up to thirty Crank's, them all mixed with children, men and women, but mostly men, sadly. She was kept behind Minho, his protective nature playing out and he was furious with how quickly their moment was ruined. Newt was ready to whack one of them if they dared to lay a hand on him, his hands empty though. Thomas jerked his body to the side as a Crank snarled, not knowing what to command or instruct for them to do. They were trapped. 

A light bulb turns on down a walk way of hands outstretching to grab onto a mysterious figure of a girl coming to them, her attitude had swagger, as if she owned the place and wasn't scared of these creatures wanting to harm her to the full extent. 

"Welcome."

The flashlight and the light bulb gave her contour on her face, and she had much shorter hair than the newbie and it was a dark brown meshed with black, Thomas observing her suspiciously. "Follow me," She continued, using her thumb to point to the passage. She began to walk away, but they stayed on the spot, unsure to follow her or not. 

"Or.. Stay here with them. That's fine by me." 

Her words didn't settle with the group so they went against their morals, having to trust someone that could be WICKED or pretending to be WICKED again. 

Her height was rather shorter than normal, yet she looked mature. She lead them inside the warehouse, lamps and stocks stacked up, where people sat or walking about in their interests. Hammocks were set up for them to rest, them all looking like they could use grooming techniques for their over grown beards or greasy hair. Her strides were long, her cheeks shining in highlight of the glowing fire in its' torches. 

"Someone wants to see you all."

"Who?" She asked amongst them, flitting from the girl to a man that was giving her a toothless yet menacing aura. 

Evading that, she says, "We're curious, the Scorch hasn't had people in a while."

Graffiti on the walls made her shiver, a staircase coming into view and she started to take her time going up the steps, hips swaying lightly. Aris was certainly not enjoying the view, and tried to look behind them, but yeah. That was impossible; Men and women of their stake out were keeping the group company, cozy in their way to exit if they became skittish.

Abiding by the short female's leader stance, they went up the stairs. 

It was cleaner up there then where they were, if that made them feel better. Not really. They were shifting to not be pressing shoulders and arms, their sights fixated on a man who was tweaking radio knobs to get a signal. 

"Jorge-"

"Shh.." He put his finger to his lips and she didn't look like she was amused, her body dropping unceremoniously onto a sofa. He stopped to listen to anything that would come from his headphones, applying pressure to his ear. When he eventually gave up, he tossed them in front of him, standing to stretch his shoulders out. 

"I have three questions for you." He clicked his tongue then fiddled with tools on his desk that probably didn't belong to him. "Where you came from, where you're going and what can I get out of it."

"Mountains.. Uh.. Heading to the mountains." Thomas stuttered on his wording. This man definitely seem the type to instigate. 

"The Right Arm, eh, hermano?"

Laughs erupt behind Newt and Frypan, their faces showing they didn't appreciate being mocked. They didn't understand what this guy.. Jorge? Was trying to get at. He repeated his phase of asking them, "Where did you-"

"None of your business." She quipped, her mouth set in a thin line. 

"Is that so?" Jorge challenged. 

Burly men that smelled like odor harshly had her kneel, her head was bent to face the ground and she struggled, her arms locked behind her lower back. She gasped and barely was able to react in time, Minho jumping in but was yanked by the back of his jacket, stumbling. "Let go of me, you shuck faces!"

He was refrained from joining and fighting them off for her to be let go, his face contorting into pain when they clenched on his neck. The girl had to move to her from the couch and took a device that would soon be on the back of her neck that was exposed to her. She let the red leering scanner go up then down of the tattoo that no one seemed to notice until that moment, Minho staring dubiously. 

"What? What are you doing to me?" She freaked out; flexing her arms threateningly. 

"Look at this." She faced the scanner's surface to her partner and his face lit up. This was bad news. Did Minho know that she had this thing on the back of her neck and didn't say anything? He cut her hair, as it is. He probably thought it was nothing. 

"Ooh.. Brenda." He smiled tenderly at her. "Coming from WICKED, you're valuable to us." He bored into the newbie's eyes and his lips turned up on the side. "Thank you." He used a motion of his hand and the men took the Glader's away, the girl that's named Brenda wandering her focus to the scanner out of disbelief. 

WICKED. Oh no.

 

* * *

 

Next thing they knew, they are upside down by their ankles over a pit, her hair raised in a laughable way but no one thought it was funny. Her clothes were sagging and she had to tuck her shirt into her pants to make sure it didn't do it too much. Blood rushed to her head but if she willed it away, she'd be okay. Minho was dangling with every one, Thomas turning ever so slowly from his place near the edge. He wasn't close enough to leap or anything, but it was a good fantasy. 

"This is great, Thomas." Minho said sarcastically, his arms raised on both sides of his head. 

"Shut up." He exaggerated, Newt moving his hips in a wriggling motion. Teresa's hair hung from her scalp and went about in the wind, her body trying to fold and reach the ropes on her feet. Thomas wanted to do it too, but failed and Newt scoffed. 

"Tommy, there's no use."

Jorge's shoes clunked and thumped on the floor, a cane in hand. 

"What is it that you want?" Newt was daring, but he was risking their lives by being like that. 

"Honestly?" She exasperated in reflecting off of Thomas, and the British teen rolled his eyes at her.  "Dude."

"To sell you to them.. WICKED." Jorge simply stated, swinging the cane gently and catching it in his opposite palm. 

"Did this shank say what I think he just said?" The Korean deadpanned. 

Jorge's persona wasn't exactly what she thought it would be, he was thinking really hard about them and what he'd do. She thinks it'd be great if he changed his mind and let them go, or aided them on their quest.

"I don't think it'd be that easy to give you guys up, I'm not like that. I want to know about The Right Arm. What are they planning?"

"I thought you didn't believe us?" She surged with adrenaline. This man was a piece of work. 

"They're real, very real. I hear them from now and then." 

Everyone watched him move to a lever. It handled the ropes holding them above their fates. 

"Tell me about them."

Silence but no crickets happened, and his face was stony. He got the lever to be clasped and tugged in a motion that caused their ropes to give, their shouts and screeches effective to the interrogation. 

"Woah! Woah! Hey!" 

"Tell me."

"Man, yo, don't!" Thomas breathed in and out, his hands put out for Jorge to see. "They're in the mountains!" His throat felt like someone had a vice on it. "I-In the mountains! You already knew that, didn't you! We got captured by WICKED, please!"

Their captor was conflicted; whether or not to believe their story. One of his men approached him, and is addressed formally. 

"What are you doing with them?" 

Jorge puts his hand in his pocket, the other still with the cane. "I got what I wanted out of them. No worries."

"Wait.. Help us!" She compared herself to the men, and she was a pipsqueak. 

"Bloody ridiculous." Newt murmured under his breath then grunted, his eyes closing at feeling dizzy. 

"Don't worry. Like I said." Jorge reassured her and them, walking away with his acquaintance. 

 

Spinning in circles when the duo left, Teresa and her have to take turns swinging their bodies to get to the lever. Minho and Aris were the ones who volunteered to push them, the ropes not letting them get very far. They miss by barely a couple of inches and it wasn't working. Teresa ended up grabbing the lever first.

"Wait!"

It made them drop for a brief moment, her body having to slide and shift to sit upright and get herself untied. Since she did it early without notifying her, she had to grab at the edges of the Pit to pull herself up without Teresa's help, shooting her a testy glance. "Thanks, Teresa."

"Sorry." 

They got anything that could be useful to get the boys to land, the room not as dark as it should be. It had dusty windows and boxes at every corner. They used pipes or poles, or having to make them swing and take their hands. Aris was scrambling to get Newt from his bindings, the coarse substance making his fingers burn. Minho worked with Thomas on a strategy to leave but fluorescence of vehicle lights occupy the dimness. 

It was them again?

It was like a dungeon before they appeared and she hitched her breath. This wasn't what was supposed to happen.

A megaphone's signature wail came on and then a voice echoed throughout the building. "Our property is withheld within your state and we demand you give them up to us!" 

It was Janson. That prick. They weren't anyone's property. 

Frypan was complaining as he was swinging and no one could catch him, Janson's words still revolving around their initiative. "We  _will_ obliterate all of you unless you adhere to my commands. The choice is yours to make."

The black chef reached them _,_ his body thudding and a tool was used to unjam the lever's platform. 

"There is a chance for the cure due to those you have taken." His voice was becoming annoying to her, having to plug one of her ears. They were stopped by the man that had come up to Jorge earlier, his hands holding a gun and a walkie-talkie. He was up to something. They all visibly gulped. 

"I got'em Janson." He pressed a button on the side of it and Janson's answer was static. 

"Good job. Bring them to me." Was the response. 

His gun was facing Thomas and Thomas wanted them all to be knit together from behind, blinking at the barrel. This dude was undercover for WICKED. Or sold Jorge out for his own fortune. Minho's hands were put up in fists to fight him yet Thomas took it upon himself to try and get the gun out of the man's hand, a gun shot being the last thing any of them could hear. 

The sound made her get a flashback of Winston killing himself and she stared forward, hoping Thomas didn't get shot. Instead, the man was bleeding forthright of his stomach, his face slack. He slumped, revealing Brenda and her pistol. 

"Let's go, come on. We don't have much time." She sprinted to get them going. "Don't sit around like ducks, _let's_ _go!_ "

Everyone follows except for Teresa and she flicked her vision to her figuring she'd run too, but she picks up the walkie-talkie the man dropped while being killed. 

 

A song started to play on the speakers surrounding the tall structured pillars of the warehouse, the taped wires running everywhere. It was all connected for some reason. Odd. She blinks in a fluttering manner to the beat of it, it was an old song. What the shuck was _that?_ Crooning throughout the entirety of their running, she didn't want to know what would happen if Janson was to catch them for real and bring them back to WICKED and do gosh knows what. Jorge catches up to them and he pushed open these shades that replaced doors, revealing a breathtaking opening. 

It was a transport connecting their building to a tower. "Oh hell nah," Frypan was in disbelief, his jaw loose. 

"I'll lead you to them." Their captor made it known to them that he'd guide them to The Right Arm; Minho's mind clouding with possibilities he could be lying. He yanked on a long strip of cloth that sturdily wrapped around a metal pulley to glide down the wire. Jorge goes first to prove his point, their thoughts invaded. Minho is handed one of the many pulleys, and he looked back to his girlfriend. 

"I want to go after him!" She called out to Brenda, and she didn't seem to object to it. "Go, Minho, I'll be right with you."

His arms lifted and his hands wrapped around the fabric as snug as he could manage, the blur of his bland outfit going past. She watched him hiss before he swung, and she could tell he was either going to piss his pants or enjoy the ride. She was given her own handle and she squeezed her orbs shut. She couldn't blow this, she needed to hold on and stop when she's stopped. The tower was far, but the wire was forgiving to hold her weight. 

She drops to nothingness, the material catching her forearms and eager fingers, her voice caught in her throat. She couldn't scream nor yell her fear of heights, the wind zooming and making her clothes ripple like crazy. A beam from the air pinpointed her location and she gawked up at the sky, making out Janson's hand indicating where she was. They were spotted. She imagined strangling Janson by his throat and wanting to make him suffer; why must he do this to them? They want to survive. 

She remains quiet and fidgety in the air, the wire jiggling faintly for the person behind her to go with them, not intending on breaking. She lands against the towers' hole in the wall, her back having to arch to balance and not throw up. "Nngh.." She held it back with all her might, her hands shielding her stomach and gut. Aris was ruffling his own hair, lacking sympathy. Teresa was the person that trailed at her behind and she was waiting for Thomas presumably, yet Brenda and him disappeared. Where the-

Why were they going back! What?

She stopped her nausea to glare. Dammit, Thomas. This wasn't the time to grab anything he forgot and neither was she valid if she was the one to run back in. Are you kidding? She calms her beating heart with her hand, her senses climaxing. Something was wrong. The song was still on, but why was it playing, anyways? Jorge had this.. This seriousness. 

"Was it you who played that song?" Newt asked, and Jorge didn't want to answer him. 

She stared from the building then to Jorge. He planned something dark from playing that song. Thomas and Brenda might not make it. "Jorge.. Whatever your name is. What did you do?"

He pinched the bridge of his nose and attempted to walk but she got in his way, refusing to let him leave unnoticed. "What did you _do!"_ His exhale was interrupted, the song having stopped. His eyebrows lowered and he lost all traces of his hidden emotions. 

Her hands shook with intensity to punch him in the face like she did to Gally, and she felt her torso go cold at his expression. "I played my favorite song." 

"Excuse me?" She snapped. 

A booming clash of the building Thomas and Brenda was in fell apart, fire emitting and smoke bellowing into the air. Everyone crouched by the sheer velocity and strength of the bombs going off, and she tripped, hitting her knees and getting onto her side. It shook the tower and the wire snapped, cutting off the pair that were not with them. " _No!_ "

She put her hand out as if she could get them back and she couldn't breathe. Too many people were lost- This wasn't how she wanted to live. Without her friends. "Thomas!" Flames licked and flicked at the windows and curtains flowed in the breezes. She didn't get to say anything to him. Why did they have to go back!

Minho gritted his teeth and wobbled from being startled of the explosion, sensing her despair for losing Thomas. He couldn't get her to stop her words that were thrown at their captor. 

"He's in there, and you killed him! Brenda was in there, too, that was your friend! What's wrong with you!"

Newt winced, limping to her then taking her hand that had dropped onto the rubble. Jorge's face couldn't be foretold and he puffed his chest out. "They're not dead. Brenda knows the ins and out when I play that song. I taught her how. We should get a move on unless you want Cranks to find us, you silly girl."

To be corrected at a late sequence had her flustered, reeling it in. They were alive? How could he be that sure that they didn't get crushed by rocks or in a dead end with no ways of contacting them? "We need to find Marcus."

"Marcus?" Teresa whispered, she didn't say anything regarding Thomas's possible death. She thought it was pointless to get riled up for nothing. 

"He can help us get to The Right Arm." 

Newt's strength didn't match Minho's when they flung her to her heels, and she casually snuffed them off. She didn't know who to trust. Minho didn't understand how she could be this unruly and he handled it by holding her side to his. "Lean on me. We have to go." She rubbed her eyes that were getting red. She was tired.. Tired than what it was to be a Track-Hoe. This life was hard. _Hard._

"How do you do it?" She weakly spoke to her boyfriend and he was puzzled. 

"Huh?"

"How do you not think of the negative?"

"I think negatively all the time. You don't need to feel alone about this. Control it and you'll be able to get through anything."

"Minho, let me go." 

"Wait.."

"I can walk on my own."

He frowned then tightened his fingers on her skin through her clothes. "Slim it, shank. We're in this together. Knock it off with that solo klunk."

"Shucking hell, you two need a room." Newt smiled halfheartedly. His girlfriend was whiny, in his opinion and he went with Teresa and Aris, Frypan massaging his arm. Minho gaped at her and she clamped her hand on his knuckles. She didn't want to lose him but he was stoic. She wanted to be stoic too, yet didn't know how in these times. She had a jealous part of her that crept up to the surface, her lips terse. 

"Fine."

 

Jorge traveled throughout the tower with skill, drafting and drifting through the halls and stairs that brought them down to land. "We've mapped this thing since we made this our home, and created a hide out. Where Cranks can't get to us or try to eat us in our sleep." He jumped two steps at a time to get down faster and faster, them all struggling to keep up, especially Newt. 

They rested in Jorge's said safe space, their bodies laying in different parts of the room. They were on land, having left the tower completely and he explained that Marcus tends to stay in the dangerous parts of the town with his flock. He made him out to be a tricky person, that you couldn't get a hold of him. 

Minho had taken off his boots, his feet was in more pain than his body. His hair wasn't exactly clean, but she liked when he had it styled without doing anything to it. It was like he had no bad side to look unattractive. "Sorry.. For being mean to you." She scooted to him after a pause and he hooded his sight. He was actually disappointed with her. 

"You've been acting up."

"I don't mean to." She swallowed nervously. 

"I don't want you to say sorry. Control yourself, dude." 

"I'll try." She watched him lean back onto the floor. They were coated in dirt and it didn't go well with his skin tone. He was olive skinned as it is. "Can you forgive me in the slightest?"

"I'll think about it."

"Minho.." She started to get on her elbow and set herself besides him. She wasn't in his privacy but he could get a glimpse of her regret. 

"You pick fights with people. That could get us killed."

"You do it too." She countered. He was a back talker too. 

"You were in Newt's face." He glowered. 

"Want me to apologize to him? Kiss his cheek and bow to his feet?" Her body raised. "Newt!"

He tugged her to get down to the floor with a laugh. Newt didn't pick up his head, he was already passed out, his head on a rock. She smiled at Minho who had to admit that she was doing that for that kind of reaction, to lighten him up. He sat up, his jacket going to start a pile. His shirt came off next and there was various scratches and bruises. She probably had some under her own clothes, but she wasn't going to check. 

"Aw.. Jeez.." She ghosted her fingertips on them, feeling ultimately bad for him. He was young and he'd get scars from these type of wounds. What he did was bring his hand to her head and he felt her shortened hair. It felt nice to touch, even if they were filthy. "Hmm?"

His eyes shown what he was going to say, not wanting to be a sap. She understood instantly, his eye smile filling her head. She was infatuated with him and his silliness. To be shirtless was a wonder, she ran her hands on his muscles then tugged at the ones that were pulled in the wrong fashion. He was grateful, her hands taking the kit from his bag, rummaging for anything to salvage and craft a bandage. 

She got it around his arm, tying a knot in the middle. It didn't suffocate him, his arms playfully getting bigger. "No need to show off."

"You know you like it."

They snuggled on the ground, having put the blanket down and Jorge stoked the bonfire. The Korean gazed into the blazing inferno, it's radiating heat soothing his soul and causing him to think profoundly of his lover. Bundling their bag to be under their skulls, they were at peace, admiring the panorama of their group either in slumber or starting to doze. 

"I love you." He mumbled quietly enough for her to hear. 

Planting her hand on his sternum, she felt the bone. They didn't eat, it's been a few days. All they had was water. "I love you more." She breathed, her cheeks burning with shyness. "I'll make sure to say I'm sorry to Newt tomorrow."

"Good." He grunted, shifting his lower half. Yawning then scraping his nose a little, he looked at her. "Go to bed, shank."

"How romantic." She smirked and dipped her face into his chest, squirming. 

 

* * *

 

Minho had no head start whatsoever, being woken up by Aris pushing on his shoulder. "You gotta get up. Jorge wants to go early." He informed, and his eyes rolled back into his head. That guy surely should get that they were worn out like a dead battery and don't have much to be recharged on. He had no choice but to get up, sliding her head to be on the bag, pawing for his shirt and shoving his arms through the holes. The fire was put out and the light was peeking through the slices of the walls, his face puffy. 

She refused to wake, her palm getting her hair to stick up. Her boyfriend didn't bother her, he was currently putting his boots on, their high flaps being laced around the circumference of his ankle. She gave up when Aris nagged at her, her grin curving when he left her be. This would be the perfect time to say she was sorry to Newt. He's susceptible to people when he's in a daze from waking up. 

The blonde was packing his bag worth of his items, his eyes barely open. His hair was messed up alike of hers, and she couldn't stop looking at it. "Newt.. Can I talk to you?"

He became paralyzed. "Me?" Astonished, he was stimulated for her suggestion. 

"Yes, you. Come'ere." She opened her arms in invitation. 

His arms dropped by his sides and he gave a measly lift of his eyebrow. He was skeptical. "Why?"

"Come'ere." She insisted. 

Incompetent to her heeding, the British boy was eventually giving her a look of reluctance. "I'm afraid to."

She came to him since he couldn't.. Or wouldn't do as she said and she embraced him on his torso, putting her chin on the junction of his neck and shoulder. He gave a resounding soft sound, like an 'oof'. He didn't know how to respond, giving her several pats on her back. "Erm.. What is this?"

"This is for being rude to you, I'm sorry, Newt."

"You don't need to hug me." He failed to seem like he didn't need or want a hug, but it felt nice once in a while to be given a hug that wasn't from his male friends. 

"I'm doin' it, shuck, you don't like it this much?"

"I-I do like hugs!" He retorted then awkwardly put his thin arms around her ribs, not sure how to move or be in this hold, someone like this close in one's arms, especially as a sign of affection. 

"I won't break, you can squeeze me a bit." She grinned merrily as they made up, she could feel Newt's delicate cheeks stretch to smile too, repeating and reciprocating with an extensive squeeze of her figure. "There ya go, man."

He chuckled at her perspective; leisurely spending their minutes of hugging. She was the first to let go and locked their vision together. "I promise I won't do it again."

"Slim it when you know you're going to lose your temper next time, shank." He warned, inclining to Minho waiting for her. "Go on."

 

* * *

 

 

Jorge and the Gladers found that Marcus created a sort of Crank Party far in the city, breaking in with much needed effort, getting Marcus tied to a chair and kept in a separate room, his face bruised by how many times Jorge beat the living klunk out of him. He must've been really pissed at him for some reason. Minho and her found Thomas on the ground, unconscious and sickly, like he had food poisoning. She cupped Thomas's face, concerned that he was involved with acts in the party. 

They saw a hasty Crank battle versus humans, where they'd kill them for entertainment, the gun being stowed after it blew the zombie's head to bits. She wished she didn't have to see it.. but they were drunk, or anything of that nature. Her brows drawn low, she moved Thomas's hair aside to feel his temperature, a fever spiking. 

"Does anyone know where Brenda is?" She cared for Thomas, believe it or not, he got them this far, and she wasn't ready to give up on him or any one. Even Teresa if she'd actually grow a better brain. 

"Nope. How is Tommy doing?" Newt was concise, smelling a bottle that was three quarters emptied, the liquid a mint green inside. He choked then held it away from his nose, his eyes as wide as plates. "That smells shuckin' disgusting." 

Minho snickered at Newt's reaction to sniffing alcohol, snapping his fingers at Teresa. "Hey, T. I'll put Thomas on one of the beds. Have an eye on him so he can see your face when he wakes up."

 

They did just that, putting him on a least solid exterior, propping his neck. 

Teresa supervised her best friend in proximity, her hands finding Thomas's to caress his slender fingers. Minho intersected his arms, his knee bent at an angle where the bottom of his foot touched the wall he leaned on. He was delighted to see Teresa not jittery. The place had food, so they ate a light meal to not be as sickly if they decided to eat plentiful amounts at once. "Minho, ever think Teresa loves Thomas?"

"I'd be shucked." 

Fluffing Minho's hair for him, she popped his collar and zipped up her partner's wrists that belonged to the sleeves. "You'd be that shucked?"

"Thomas isn't the kind to be delved into.. That."

"And you are?"

"Oh nah. I am, with you, of course."

"No one else?"

"Nope." Dimples peeped on his left cheek and she pecked it sweetly, in time for Teresa to gasp in alleviation. 

"Minho, he's awake!" 

Thomas looked around heftily then slumped a bit, disoriented from a hangover that drink Marcus forced him to drink as permission to enter. Why was he here, ironically for the same reason to find Marcus? Perhaps Brenda knew, that this was their plan all along after deciding to aid them? He panted, but Teresa got him to get against the blankets. 

"Down.. Down."

Minho and her came over Teresa's shoulders, his dimple showcasing itself clearer in the light rays obscured by the shades on the windows. "Hey there, ya ugly shank." They all peered at him, pleased to see him breathing and okay. 


	5. Road Trip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Having found Marcus and beating him to get an answer of where The Right Arm was, they end up driving through the mountains instead of going on foot. Brenda reveals something she's been hiding from the group.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Omg. I'm so sorry for not updating sooner. I had plenty of things going on! Studying, friends, and kdrama's to watch constantly. xD
> 
> But here is chapter 5. It may be shorter than my tastes, but please accept it! I hope everyone healthy and well! Whoever celebrated Chuseok, I hope it was good!  
> I received my BTS facemask in the mail and I'm literally so psyched to wear it in the winter or when it gets chilly. Ughhhhh.

With or without Teresa's nagging, Thomas sat up anyways, spotting Brenda looking unsettled on one of the many seats of the room. It's like the only room that wasn't trashed with liquor bottles or ripped up furniture. He was groaning and holding his head, he probably klunked his pants, by how he was severely groggy. She walked backwards to lean on a pole that was built into the floor boards, crossing her arms and seeming tough. 

Though she didn't intend to be. She glanced at Brenda briefly and they met, she was clearly not okay. What happened to them?

"Next time, don't drink anything that someone hands you." Newt chattered to him, smiling cheekily. 

"Ye.. Yeah." Thomas's hand swatted at the air to get him to lay off. Brenda twirled her fingers in her sweater, her sour expression making her curious. They both were poorly dehydrated and she felt bad, since they hadn't found any water on the way to Marcus's party. 

Minho wandered to Jorge who was shaking his hand rigorously. He was occupied with punching Marcus nearly to death, marks raked on his face. He was surely going to spit up blood by the split lip and a tooth might have gotten loose. Jorge resolved to more violence than she thought. Before he could land another hit on Marcus's head, Minho restrained him, though struggling on just one arm. "Dude, why would we need him if you're punching him like a punching bag!"

He growled at the Korean with a tinge of vexation. "Because. We need to see if he's actually himself for once. I'll ask you again," He got Minho to release his tricep and he stepped to Marcus slowly. Marcus visibly backed up into his four legged chair, hands bound to the arm rests. "Where is The Right Arm!"

The bruised male giggles as if he's having fun. "Now why in the world would I tell you  _that?"_

"We can make you a deal." 

"Please." He dismissed Jorge. 

"You could come with us."

Everyone's faces twisted with indignation. Newt was specifically peeved. His voice even broke as he said, "Wait what?"

"Jorge, you son of a bitch!" She raged; his comment was not necessary, Marcus would be baggage they didn't need, getting off the pole to stand next to him. Her boyfriend was caught off guard by her swearing then furrowed his brows in a riled manner.

"How do we know he won't lie to us?" He asked to change her wording. It's what the Glader's should be asking, but he did it for them. 

"He won't."

"And if he does?" Thomas was sketchy to this, his eyes squinting from the bits of sunshine fanning on his face through the curtain to his left. 

"I'm not with them, that's the thing." Marcus wheezed; his head turned to the side to hack at the ground. It was a color of ruby, pure and shiny. "You're out of luck."

"So you have no idea what I'm talking about.. 'kay." He was unamused by Marcus's actions, rolling up his sleeves tentatively. "You know, I didn't expect to have to get to this point."

"What I do is round up immunes. For WICKED. You're working with the wrong side..  _pal."_

"Don't you think we should be saying that to you?" Minho glowered at their rising enemy's cockiness. 

"Nah. You see- It's about profit. I lure them in. Making my own deals and such. I run this, and there is nothing you'll get out of me." 

"Not too shabby.." Jorge rubbed his nose with a sniff and smirked.

"We can do worse than the swollen eye and split lip,  _pal."_  She had lost her cool, mocking his terms that he used with them. She could be threatening, like Jorge, like any one that would get in their way. She had to not cry, she had to not stay behind and let things unfold in front of her. She has to stand up to whoever wanted to stop her will to live. He gaped at her boldness then was going to speak. 

"Do you keep a muzzle on her?" He questioned with a snarky laugh. 

She sneered.

Then strutted to their guide that had brought them to this snake.

Sliding the gun from Jorge's holster, she aimed it directly at the center of Marcus's face. Her lip had curled up and her eyes could've dilated like she had her nemesis sitting in that very chair. She hated wasting time with this fool. He was trying to distract them, or worse, steer them off course. She couldn't have this, she wanted to get out of this shit hole and go home. To an actual home. Living off of nothing was not cutting it. 

Marcus's throat showed that he swallowed rather hard. The barrel was pressed against his sweaty skin, not lightly, either. Minho put his hand out for her to stop and his eyes were blown wide with caution. "G-Greenie!" He panicked, and she didn't bother with looking to him. 

"I'd like to kill you to get it over with, but I enjoy you instigating me. Go on. Say it, slinthead."

He looks away as if she wouldn't pull the trigger, her finger slipping through the loop instantaneously without hesitation. "Wanna play a game of Russian Roulette?"

"You wouldn't kill me." Scoffing at her, it made his situation worse. She hissed through her teeth and breathed swiftly, bracing her wrist with her free hand.

"Wanna bet?" The room was thick with tension and Newt wasn't scared in the slightest. He couldn't take her seriously, he thought she was getting mad for nothing and this trick wouldn't work. Minho was busy in thinking of scenarios to get her to drop the gun and do this rationally and Thomas was puzzled as all hell. This was fast. Remaining seated, her chest rose and dropped rapidly. 

"Talk." She fixated the gun to be on his forehead, nudging it urgently. 

"Alright, jeez. Not with it in my face."

"You love pushing all of our buttons, don't you, Marcus. Shucking _say_ it!"

"They're in the mountains! On foot, with WICKED, you won't make it. It's hilarious of how determined you are." Marcus smiled snidely; blinking the one eye that wasn't sealed shut. 

"We've been through worse. Where in the mountains." She pressed, easing her heart rate, he was opening up. 

"A base, you can't miss it. It has a couple swirled roads."

"We won't be walking." Jorge interjected, and he walked up to her, having to put his hand over hers to take the gun. "Hand it over." She sighed then loosened her hold on the pistol's trigger, Minho promtly coming forward to pull her to his body. She grunted and had him giving her scolding faces then and again, her lips pursed. He was concerned that her jump to conclusions were unnatural, gently ruffling her short hair. 

"Do you have Bertha?" He bent his body to put his palms on the back of Marcus's chair, his face inches from his. "You do, don't you."

"B-Bertha?"

His face shown his pain, he had to give up his vehicle to them to get there. 

 

* * *

 

 

Newt took shotgun. Minho, her, and Thomas were in the middle of this van-like car, quite boxy indeed. Teresa, Aris, Frypan and Brenda took up space in the far back, their legs tangled and their bodies rocking with the bumps on the road. She was shocked it could fit that many people. She smiled abruptly to their environment, their was ferns and plants that managed to survive the sun's harmful rays, the weather bone dry and dusty. She didn't get a window seat, but it was worth it to see Minho's hair fly up and away from his forehead. 

She tucked her arms around his and looked out the window with him, seeing him grin too. For once they didn't have to travel and bruise the soles of their feet, or better yet, get heat blisters. Those were as bad as the bruises.. Ugh. Thomas's dreary glances to the sky were unsettling, like as if he didn't approve of anything they were doing. Marcus could be lying. 

Newt twisted in his seat to pat Minho's knee. "Hey, shank.. How does it feel? I'm liking this."

He merely gawked at him, in surprise from being startled of his daydream. His eyebrows shot up and he adjusted his position to be sitting straight against the stiff seats. "Oh.. Um.. It's good."

"You think so?" He nodded in agreement. He knew they were getting used to modern necessities. Thomas decided to get in their conversation, looking over Minho's girlfriend's shoulder. 

"Is your brain fried?"

"Wha-"

"He's playing around." She chuckled then bumped Thomas with her said shoulder. "That klunk hurt him, no need to tease, what about you? Drinking stuff Marcus gave you because it'd get you to party it up all night while we were worried sick?"

He grimaced at her. She had a point. Just because he got struck by lightning and is lethargic sometimes doesn't mean he should be like that. Brenda's breathing had gotten hitched, the loudness of it being wild. She looked back to see her dropping her head and bouncing with the actions of the back wheels. Was she sick? 

Newt pressed the side of his head on the cushioned head rest. Nestling his hands to his under arms, he was at peace. "Jorge, how long do you think this will take?"

"Based on how close the mountains are, a couple of miles, maybe more than that." He answered, his eyes solely on the road in broad daylight. He didn't want casualties following, his aged orbs searching through the side view mirrors every other minute or so. Minho blinked and then shook his head as if he was thinking of something bad, repeating what he was doing before. He wanted to observe the nature of this area. 

Running a hand through the trimmed part of her head, she inhaled calmly. "I hope that we get there soon. I don't want to be driven in the dark."

"Brenda." Jorge's voice carried carefulness to it. "Are you alright?" He was looking at her through the rear view mirror. Her hand raised to show she was okay and he huffed. She wasn't, and he had no clue why she was acting like this. Thomas bore guilt, her reaction hindering.. He was hiding something crucial involving Brenda. 

"Do you think The Right Arm is a big group?" Aris questioned in general to everyone who listened, and Frypan was the one to answer. 

"Man, I don't care if it's big or small. We need people."

"Good that." Newt resounded. 

"It should matter, that it's big. If it's not big, how will we take down WICKED?" Teresa commented. There she goes again. 

"We'll take down WICKED one way or another, T." Thomas was invested in their down fall from the beginning, it wasn't that hard to see. Teresa and him locked eyes then put their matters aside for the sake of the conversation. 

Minho was gloomy, deep in thought. "Do you think they'll reject us?"

"Reject us? What do you mean?"

"I mean, they might think we're infected."

"We have proof, no bites, no scratches, no nothin'." Frypan bitterly yet stubbornly responded. He was never the person to be negative, but he was a part of the group and his opinion mattered. "If they don't see it, it's not a problem."

Thomas flinched in reflex and then chewed on his nail, putting his elbow on the crease of the window and the car door. Yeah, she knew what he knew. "Fry."

"What? I'm bein' serious."

"We get that. But let's drop it until we get there."

Newt smirked wittily. "Tommy, if you have doubts, it's fine. But let's stay optimistic. This is our chance."

"Greenie is being more enthusiastic about this as much as you, c'mon." Minho prodded and Thomas sent him a halfhearted glare. He didn't appreciate the comparison. 

They rode into the rocky mountains and Minho would lean on her every once in a while in passion, her adoration for the scenery and her boyfriend overwhelming to the senses. Each prominent burst of color had her soaring and pointing at the multiple plants and animals that lived in this state. The roads took emergency turns, the wheels crushing anything on the paved road. It had cracks in it, but it was still marvelously held together after all this time.

They came to a stop because of blockage and they got out one by one, the car doors flung open. Her boots landed on the ground and it made her dizzy for a second, looking around skittishly. There was abandoned cars in this road, up ahead. They were dirty and covered with insects or rust. It swathed with sand from sand storms, making them deserted. The ride was short lived but hyped, and they all came in a bundle, Jorge putting his hands on his hips while looking at the terrain. 

"Lets walk up the path."

"It's blocked off." Teresa mentioned, the rocks in the tunnel creating a pile up in it and outside of it. 

"We should still find supplies and a way around. Let's go."

The cars that took up the drive way was tediously placed, like as if someone had done this themselves. It was eerily wrong. She wanted to know the history of how they were left here, or what people drove them on a day to day basis. She roamed her fingers over a circular hole in the window, her fingertips making a stripe appear on the surface. It was the shape of a bullet round. Surrounding it was cracks and chipped pieces of glass, it was scattered on the hood of the car. 

Thomas came to her to check it out as well, the strangeness of it being intriguing. The angle was pretty high to get a shot like that, so they looked back to the steep mountains, the sensation of being watched scaring her. 

Going through trunks and sweeping their hands through fabric or covered suitcases, they found minimal supplies. Crows cawed in the distance, it's call having her be jumpy. She despised birds for giving that sense of irritability. Newt scoped the place with her, Thomas having moved on with Jorge, and she grumbled to herself, stretching. "What have we found that's actually going to be useful?"

"Ahh.. A blanket, a couple of quick stitch kits, and an empty water bottle." Aris threw the container that had no liquid in it over the drive way railing. 

"Useless klunk, right."

When they had separated a bit more, being slow in her walking, she was shot at by a sniper, the bullet missing her and striking the car beside her. The window smashed and she threw her hands up in the air to cover her head and torso, unsure of where it came from. Newt snatched her to his chest and got them to be behind the car with Teresa, her hands squeezing her friend's forearms. " _Okay then!_ " She cried out in response to what had happened and it wasn't directed at anyone in particular, her head swiveling around. 

"Minho? Minho!" She called out to make sure he wasn't shot either, the sounds of the guns going off nearly deafening. "Is anyone okay!"

Newt breathed fast, his chest filled with dread. "Thomas?!"

"We're fine!" Minho wasn't quick to answer, his body snug against the side of another car not too far from them. "Who's shooting at us!"

"Is this an ambush!?" She cried in frustration, Newt still holding her to him to keep her at ease and not jump out of their only protection against death. It was silent after she asked the question, Teresa being as quiet as a mouse. Then footsteps came to Newt's heightened hearing, a girl with a long gun marching right at them with it.

A chink and a cock of a rifle was heard and it was towards her head, her tone being demanding. "Don't make a sound."

Her partner ran up to Thomas and Jorge's car, their guns being as bad as the ones WICKED used. "Drop it. Stop what you're doing and drop it!" Her tone was just as bad as the girl with really light hair, it being wispy and airy in the wind. The one that was with Thomas was light skinned and had dreads, her figure muscular and taught. Thomas must have been doing something dangerous according to the girl with dreads, her eyes slimming in a narrow style. "I said drop it!"

"Slowly get up!" She yelled. 

She saw Jorge and Thomas's form surrender to her and stood from their crouched positions, evident with her intentions to shoot if they moved the wrong way. Aris was told to get with them and they were huddled like prisoners, their hands up and staring at each other in agitation. 

The girl with dreads saw Aris and she had stopped what she was going to say next to give him a double take. "Is that you.. Is that really you?" Their faces had been masked by a piece of scarfing, and she wrenched it down in disbelief. "What.."

"Harriet?" He choked out. 

"Aris!" The second girl came forward to hug the life out of the mousey boy and she was actually disgusted to see them be buddy buddy. Friends with girls who aim their guns at pretty much anybody?

"Sonya!" He smiled brightly and the two girls practically fawned on him and she was detesting that this was actually happening. They could've died and they're hugging like it was no harm, no foul? 

"Aris, who's your friends?" She peskily asked. 

"They were from my group.. From the Maze, remember? Harriet and Sonya, I was with them." He informed them way too late and Minho looked like he wanted to punch the shucking life out of him. "Dude." Was all he had to say. 

Whistling to get the attention of their other army members, she saw heads rise from the edges of the mountain, their weapons and clothing making them outnumbered in visuals and defense. They peered down at them with determination, their weapons slinged on their shoulders or by their legs, heads raised high. 

 

Being brought into the checkpoint of vehicles, a truck backed up to reveal it's contents. The air up in the mountains was definitely chillier for some reason, and she had to have Minho rub her arms to give blood circulation and warmth. "The Right Arm?.. Have you seen them or heard about it?" Thomas spoke to the two girls that had Aris trailing along like a puppy. 

"They brought us here." Harriet focused on getting them to a Jeep, opening the door. "Get in if you wanna find them."

 

* * *

 

They pulled into the militia base, people running around and transporting goods to tents, campfires ablaze and middle aged people sharing water to thirsty soldiers who needed it most. They were cooking supper, and she could feel her mouth water simultaneously as her other half. Her stomach growled in unison, covering it to hush it. Grassy sprains appeared on rocks, and there was gigantic cliff back there, where they could look upon the land if they wished. It was a big home to many. 

It was a colony; made up of mainly adults, cargo being tugged up a hill and women sharpening knives. They are in closer to the new location, Sonya wanted to ease them with information that they could understand. They actually found The Right Arm. It was real. They could help them! "You caught us in time; We are relocating by tomorrow." 

"Vince is our guy who decides on letting you go or not, don't worry about it all too much." Harriet grinned at Aris to relieve his apprehension. 

"We used to have more people. We were an army.." Sonya bit her lip in rememberance. 

"What's left of it, that is." A husky man walks up from his post, the tent behind him being open to people coming and going. 

"Vince, we've found ourselves some immunes." Harriet showcased them with a hand. 

"Why does one of them look like they're sick?" He inquisitively said, and he indicated to Brenda who was having a hard time breathing, still. Her face was pale, and her veins were growing dark.. Oh my god! 

"Is she alright?" Harriet was going to go to her to help her stand, but she knew what would happen; her grip on Minho's wrist being full of warning, making him look down to her. She used her eyes to communicate with him but he didn't put it together in time. 

Jorge comes to Brenda to check on her, her body fainting and causing the sand around her to make a cloud, her hands scraping for purchase on the pebbles and rocks. She was gasping for air, her body was deprived, and laying about. She couldn't even withstand her weight, which she didn't weight that much, it was as if someone was sitting on her and refused to let up. 

Jorge attempted to shake her by her arm, the Gladers and The Right Arm going around her and she is stunned. Brenda's sock was tugged down, her right leg being favored more than her left. She was bit. It was obvious! Vince had the immediate reaction to pull his pistol out on her, ready to shoot, but she threw herself to protect Brenda with Jorge, squeaking. "No! Don't! Don't shoot, please!"

"Are you insane!" Vince spat. 

Jorge is refrained from touching Brenda by a pair of men, and he's going nuts, kicking and squirming to get to her. Like as if that was his own daughter. 

Thomas knew that she was bit. That's what he was hiding all along! This wasn't alright! "Thomas, didn't you know about this!" She growled at him, and he hurried to explain, his hands frantically waving at Vince. 

"I didn't- I did- Don't shoot her, she won't turn yet!"

"Yet? You're this stupid to drag a Crank in here!"

His pleas didn't suffice and he was being targeted, Vince switching from Brenda then to him. Thomas and Vince glower at each other, the day wasn't getting much slower, and they needed a diversion, fast!


	6. I Don't Care

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Brenda is infected, and Vince doesn't know if he should kill her or let her live to be a Crank. Teresa had been acting strange ever since they left Jorge's compound, piecing everything together eventually to realize they were in grave danger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH BOI OH BOI OH BOI.
> 
> I've been very happy lately! So I'm gonna spoil y'all with a bit of Minho in there. His little submissive ass is gon' like it.  
> Man, there are many instances where I wanna say fuck it, and make them do something risky and have their first time somewhere in there but I can't because I'm determined to make this lovey dovey and full of action packed survival shit. Since this is a bad ass story, if I say so myself.

"There won't be any Cranks brought in, did you know about this!" Vince questioned Thomas with his gun, crazed. 

"She's not going to h-hurt anybody!" He stammered, searching for excuses and a way around. Teresa wasn't exactly shocked, she must have had the notion too that Brenda was touched by those zombie things. 

"You really think I'd listen to you? She's bit and she has to be taken out! Move back!" He thrust his weapon at him to back up from his invasion of the bubble. 

"There has to be _something_ , anything to help her!" She screeched in desperation, and she shakily put her hand on Brenda's shoulder, attempting to ease her fast and hoarse breathing patterns. She was sickly and her cold sweat was imminent, her clothes moistened by it and darkening around her back and chest. She couldn't die.. Not this time. No more of this. 

"Shut your trap, missy!" Vince testily spoke to the newbie, and he cocked it. 

"We're begging you!" Thomas pleaded. 

"It'll only take a sec." He clicked his tongue then closed on eye, his finger about to press on the loop, loaded and ready. 

"Excuse me? Excuse me!" A woman was pushing her way through the crowd of soldiers, her brunette shoulder length hair slightly wavy and pulled into a clip. "Vince!" Everyone's eyes turned to their leader in charge of everything around the base, and Vince didn't waver, not shooting just yet. 

"No, no.. I don't think this is necessary," She came up to him and patted lightly on his arm. "Let them go." Her calm demeanor was hard to distinguish, Minho utterly exhausted of people in general resulting to killing them or casting them out into nothing to die. He was going to charge at a man who decided to pry his girlfriend off of the sick acquaintance of theirs, her legs kicking out in rebelliousness. 

Face passive, Vince shook his head slowly. "Nah.. nah, I can't. She's going to turn."

"You mean she's infected?" She asked him for the truth, her tone not condescending or angry. She must understand! He nodded in response. 

"I'm not lyin'."

"We can do something about that. Thomas, it's nice to meet you." She focused her sights on the supposed Leader of the Gladers, his finger pointing at himself, on his breast bone. 

"Me?" 

"And you." The woman smiled graciously at the Greenie and she blinked at her. 

"Huh?" She was in fright, her eyes becoming bigger by the second. "How do you know us? What are you on about, ma'am?"

"Seems to me that they didn't kill you.. Interesting." She answered her questions with empty assumptions, then she dropped her head to look at the ground. 

"What are you talking about?"

"Our source."

"Source?"

Brenda heaved then bowed her body, shivering tensely, her arms fighting against the ones that forced her backwards. She wasn't able to help her in any way, and it wasn't fair. 

"You wanted to stop WICKED." The woman inquired, her smile getting wider, despite Brenda on the ground and urging for assistance. 

"Hold on.." She maneuvered her head to glance at her boyfriend who was stuck in the middle of this, not knowing anything and neither did she. She didn't have memories about this lady! She should have them. 

"You gave us the secrets that was needed to take them down. Everything." Vince had lost his rough and terse attitude, his gun holstered and put away respectively in getting the picture. 

"Who are you again?" She rolled her eyes at Vince then bit her lip. He was being good all of a sudden, hmm.. He shouldn't be waving that thing around and acting all high and mighty, it'd save him the sarcasm and comments. 

"Bring this young lady to the tent." The woman ordered insistingly, feeling bad for the girl curled up in a ball and in a mini seizure. Jorge hitched his breath when they let go of him, and his body flocked to her to help carry her away with the medical staff, holding onto her with every ounce of strength he had. 

"Hello?" She called for her to look at her. 

"We need your blood, both of you." The woman ran a hand on her arm. 

"I.. I can't do that. Not again." She stubbornly refused to draw blood for random humans again, not like how Janson stole that from them through fake persuasion. 

"You want her to live, don't you?" 

"I'll do it." Thomas decided it'd be the best choice to transfuse his blood to Brenda, she didn't have to, he was vital. 

"And you?" The woman switched her gaze onto the Greenie out of the seconds she spent on yearning for Minho. 

"I'll decline. Thomas should be enough, ma'am." She averted her orbs in shame and felt vulnerable, the hands wrapped around her torso sliding off to release her. She reached herself for Minho and he brought her to his chest, frowning at her. He wished she didn't have to be stubborn and struggle with their brand new situation. 

Teresa seemed jealous that Thomas was favored to be giving blood to Brenda, Brenda being escorted to a closed off tent by her arms and legs. Thomas was told to move in the straight line and Teresa was forgotten, her face screwing up. "What about me?"

"You? You can stay out here, dear. Eat up, we'll have some food to supply to you. Rest, if you like, we won't be going anywhere until tomorrow." She explained to the thin and frail girl, Teresa scoffing lightly at her attitude. She wanted to be involved, walking off to whoever knows and bumping past the newbie by her shoulder. 

She turned to watch Thomas's friend's back, raising an eyebrow. "She's bugging out."

Newt masked his giggle with a cough, a hand over his mouth. "Gosh, Greenie. You really don't like her.

"She's up to something. I have a bad feeling." She swallowed nervously, facing Newt next. "Let's go and eat. I'm starving."

"You don't have to say it twice." Minho agreed and beamed, them all wanting to feed their aching stomachs. Vince shifted onto his other foot, jumbling things together to get food for them, according to his partner. 

"Alright, kids. We'll get you the fresh batch in a bit. Sit tight." He advised. 

 

* * *

 

They had eaten a hearty meal, their thirst quenched with water that was lukewarm, but it was still water. It had been days, nearly a week since they had anything in their systems, her hands massaging her abdomen with a groan. Minho was resting his elbows on his knees, dazed at the whole base that was displayed to them from where they were sitting. They were on a massive hill, rocks and plants surrounding them at every angle. It was pleasant to her, the signs of life and nature. 

"This is the highest point. Wow." Frypan gawked at the sun that was becoming low. "That's the real sun.."

"This sun is the sun that caused our world to go down in flames. Remember that." She bitterly recalled. "It's why the city we were in looked like we walked right into hell."

"Oh.." The black male process that. Was that actually possible?

"I'm full, mates." Newt wailed, his head thrown back and exposing his bobbing throat.  

"Stuffed like a bird." She joked, making him have that signature half smile in her direction. 

They were given new outfits, new clothes and accessories, that were soiled with sand, blood, or sweat ridden fabrics. It was refreshing to be in clothes that weren't gross, and she stroked the feeling of her khaki pants. She liked the boots too, tying up the laces that happened to be undone. She huffed then finished stringing it together, her head knocking into Minho's neck to hug him at the side. 

They even were given gloves, her fingers had openings, it was fingerless gloves and wrist wraps adorned her forearms. It was stylish and had her attain heat, the weather picking up in the mountains. It was chilly, unlike how they were sweltering in the desert. She puffed some air into the sky, it's vapor like a cloud. She laughed at it, letting Minho watch her with interest. 

Newt rubbed his nose and sniffled, the cold making him feel stuffy but he'd rather be freezing than dying of heat stroke. They had jackets or coats by choice, and she playfully indicated Newt's nose to be red. "Hey, your nose is all red. Why don't you get a scarf?"

"I'm fine." He retorted, shaking his hands at her in refusal. 

"Aw. Yours is too, a bit." She gestured to Minho's face and he rolled his eyes at her ways of being childish. 

"Thanks for noticing, shank."

"Shuck face." She laughed, her teeth showing. He stopped looking at the sky to see it, and he couldn't help but laugh with her. 

"What's so funny?"

"I'm happy that we are here. We found them, and they helped us and Brenda. Aren't you happy?"

"Not exactly happy, but I'm glad we got here, I thought I'd die of starvation." Minho collected himself and licked his lips that had gone dry. "What about you, Newt?"

"Ahh.. I guess so. Thomas is still giving blood, probably. We should stay here until he comes up and sees us."

"Right." The Korean yawned then chattered his teeth. His body was comfortably placed next to his girlfriend and he held her hand on his thigh, squeezing and tenderizing her flesh with his reassured touches. She watched his hair blow in the breeze, her free hand coming up to try and pat it down but it was useless. 

She yelled for Aris's attention and waved for him to see them, in which he acknowledged her with his chin jutting out. The mousey boy was sitting with his girls, Harriet and Sonya, eating a can of beans and drinking some water from a canister. He was smiling in what seemed like ever since she saw him, and it lit up her insides. They were completely safe. 

"Thomas is coming up the hill. He must've heard your yell." Newt sat up and expectantly moved for his best friend to sit next to him. But Thomas got up the hill after a grunt or two, asking a question instead. 

"Have you guys seen Teresa?"

"No. Why?" Newt took it upon himself to answer him. 

"I'm going to look for her. I'll be back soon." He was dismissive of Newt's actions and walked around them instead of sitting with them, the British teenager seeming feigned in hurt. 

"Ouch. Slinthead might as well tell us that he thinks we're a bunch of shanks and that we don't deserve his presence." Minho grinned, his eyes following Thomas's ducked form to get through plants and shrubbery. 

Newt smirked at Minho's words then touched the back of his skull to mess up his own hair. "How nice of him, indeed."

Frypan was busying himself with his zipper, Minho closing his eyes to enjoy the feeling of the wind. "Hey, Minho.." She touched his cheek and he gazed down at her in curiosity. 

"Mm?"

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" She used her eyes to show she wanted privacy. 

"Uh.. Yeah. Sure. Be right back, guys." He prepared to stand with her and gave her his hand to aid her. 

"You too?" Newt whined brokenly, his face showing disgust. "Fine."

"Calm yourself, Newt.. We'll be back." She grumbled at his state of being left alone, then trudged down the hill with the Korean, not giving him the time of day to complain. She needed to get an important piece of her out in the open to him and he was accepting to anything she'd do, his exhales coming out short. 

There was a hill that was stooped down from where Newt and Frypan were, and she could deal with the dirt for that moment, getting them to a halt going down of it. "Why are we at another hill?"

"Get down on the hill with me, babe." She bent her knees and began to tug on his wrist, his own body settling next to hers. They were facing away from the people and soldiers and their friends. They were alone, the night time almost dawned on them. The sun applied dim lighting on their faces, able to make out any expression or movement. He was anxious to what she'd do, and he scanned her eyebrows then her lips. 

"We're laying down on a hill.. And you're not answering me."

"I wanna kiss you."

"Then kiss me. Why did you need to take me all out here to do so?"

"Not in front of our friends." She sourly responded, her blush fanning out on her cheekbones. "I'm not that rude."

"You mean.. Kiss.. As in.."

"Kiss kiss."

He opened his mouth to say what he wanted to say but closed it quickly, his mono lids fluttering. "That."

"Can we?"

"I guess, now that we're alone.. Uhh.."

"Don't worry." She chuckled and moaned in exertion from pulling her limbs up and over, getting nestled in his ribs and half on top of him. She checked to see if they could see her body from the hill but it looked like it didn't, resuming her movements. She got herself to straddle his hips, his body frozen and his hands being at either side of his head. He didn't know what to do, having a girl being this close. She's never done this and he couldn't react other than being stoic. 

"Relax." She set her palms on his, and had their fingers intertwine, his bones limp. "I'm not going to do anything.. Sexual, if that's what you're thinking."

"Ah! No! I didn't think you were gonna do that. I wouldn't, ever." He had his heart snatched by her, and he couldn't get that maybe he was being seen as a perverted boy. "I wouldn't think of you like that-"

"Minho, shut up." 

"Yeah, right. I'll shut up." He stammered; his brown eyes trying to stare at everything at once. "What do I do?"

"Nothing, you do nothing. Just.." She leaned in and let herself come in for the kill, nibbling on his bottom lip then pulling on it. The sensation resounded to his groin and he gasped slightly, his brows furrowing in focusing on what she wanted out of him. With his hands pinned down, he moved with her, his head lifted off the ground.

She let go of his lip to inhale shyly, her hands removing themselves from his, and to her jacket that was zipped up neatly at her neck. She undid the zipper to glide it down, then peeled the sleeves off, her sweater being the last thing to keep warm. His eyes were still closed, so she cradled his head suddenly to put the jacket behind his head. He opened his eyes to that act of kindness, startled. 

"What?" She breathlessly said. 

"Y.. You.. I love you."

There was a pause coming from her. She couldn't hold back her grin, her cheeks nearly hurting by how wide it was. "I love ya, too. You're silly, when you do things like that." He had this indescribable face.. Whether it was lust, fondness, or intimacy, she couldn't tell. His head being propped up, it was made easier for him to kiss her.

"Shut up." He sighed out, his hands coming to her face and cupping it, his lips meeting hers again. The kiss held love, compassion and strength, having to breathe through his nose and continuously smack their lips together in a doting form of adoration. He was great at showing his feelings through physical attributes, his arms flexing with effort to have her be in proximity of his upper half. 

"Nngh.." She groaned into his mouth, romance churning in her mind. They needed this, they needed each other, they needed to kiss out their frustrations. His hands caressed their way down to her arms and carefully kneading at her muscles, it was her turn to hold his jaw to focus their kiss in a battle of tugging and aggression. 

He whimpered quietly, the sound being music to her ears. He seemed to be submissive, despite his dominance in other areas of their relationship. To match her hold on his jaw, he wrapped his hand around her throat, almost as if he would choke her, but wasn't adding pressure. 

It was a choke kiss, which would be considered an utmost show of power. She liked it more than she should have, her breathing coming out uneven. She could hear his dissolve of groaning too, how much he wanted her but she still wasn't ready, his tongue delving in to taste hers. It was a sweet gesture, and she stopped kissing to see his face in his driven emotions. 

He didn't kiss her again, instead gaping at her in unison, his face rising in color. 

"You okay?" He muttered. 

"Very okay." She hushed, and it made him smile in relief. He must have thought that he was making her insecure. 

"I love you." He repeated from a moment earlier. 

She paused for the second time after hearing it, and her bottom lip trembled. Why did it sound like he was saying it like this would be their last time together? Like this, especially? She bit back the urge to cry. She petted his temples, moving aside his jet black hair and looking over his exterior. For any marks, beauty marks.. Anything in particular that she could recognize at first glance. He was stunning. 

"What's wrong?"

"You're the person that I've wanted since I worked for WICKED, Minho." She admitted, uncertain if this was okay to say. 

He painted out a picture of her sitting at one of the Creators desk with his profile and he didn't seem to mind it, shrugging it off. "That's normal.. I mean, look at me. I'm an attractive shank." He took pride in it, his mono lids raising in an eye smile to cheer her up. 

She smiled responsively and giggled lovingly to his compliment and understanding, her eyes stinging with tears. "You had such good qualities.. Yet you looked at me differently before you saw me in the Maze."

"We met before the Maze?" He lost his eye smile almost instantly at this info. Woah..

"No." Oh, man. That would have been awesome, and fate. 

"Then how did we meet? I wanna know."

"All I remember was you banging on glass. Looking at me like I was a monster." She stuttered in her sentence and she bowed her head in shame. "We had captured you.."

"Greenie, don't get all sappy on me." He grunted in agitation then forced her head up to see his disappointment. "Why are you regretful of what you did? That wasn't you. This is you."

"It _was_ me." She barely could hold in her feelings on this issue. "We had you tested to be put in."

"Greenie!" He repeated, and he shook her head softly. "Knock it off. I don't wanna hear it!" Stubbornly and ignorantly, he brushed his thumb on her chin. "Look at me properly." She was looking at some pebbles that had moss on them, and she didn't want to feel guilty for what she had done to the Gladers. She didn't deserve to be called one of them. 

"Look at me." He said gently, and he made sure she could hear every word he said. "I don't care." She finally saw him, for everything that he was. "I want you to know that. You stood out to me the most when you arrived in the Glade. I wanted you probably as much as you wanted me, despite the circumstances when you worked with WICKED. You were being controlled.. I could see it every time you had a flashback. You were scared of them, and didn't know what to do."

"That's not true.."

"It's true, you shuck face." He deemed her words to be nothing but a reflex and he praised her. "I like that you can be like this with me. Trusting me. Because I trust you."

"You trust me..?"

"Yeah. This is a pile of klunk, what you're saying. It has no relevance to right now. I love you and that's what matters. Don't look back on what you used to be. That was the past. Focus on me. Only me. You're mine." He said those words one after the other and she hissed, as if she was afraid to hear it. "Say you love me too."

"W-What?"

"Say it." His orbs were welled up with tears. "You're all that I have, too, you know."

"Minho.. I love you too."

He exhaled shakily and his dimple showed from how big his grin became, his forehead pressed to hers. "I won't let you get lonely. Or feel the way you did before I came along. I promise."

"I promise I won't feel that way either." She whispered, her eyes cinched tightly. 

"You're getting me to tear up. See what you do to me?"

She hiccuped and laughed lightheartedly, balling her hands in his coat. "S-Sorry."

"It's all good, baby." He tread on his sentences then took the jacket that was being used as a pillow, getting her to be covered with it, it splayed like a cape over her back. "Don't get cold, you'll get sick. And we can't have that."

"Right.." She went with his words willingly and she could tell he was fighting off his sentiments. He sucked it up and let his fingers dry his little droplets cornering at his inner eye. 

"That kiss was great, by the way." He cleared his throat and looked up at her, easing her into a conversation that would be positive. "Aren't I good at it?"

"You're good at it, jeez, you're always complimenting yourself and not me." She managed to chuckle, pushing at his collarbone friskily. 

"Because I'm clearly the best you've ever had." He laughed at how she repeatedly stabbed the heel of her palm at him, playing around. "You know I'm right!"

"You're such an idiot, shit, Minho." She pecked the edge of his mouth, and lingered, having him savor it. 

"Hey, that wasn't a kiss, give me a real one. Or else."

"Or else? Or else what? You'll compliment yourself to death to make yourself feel better?"

He tensely squinted. "You take that back."

" _Or else?_ " She mocked him and squeaked when her last words were muffled with his, his body caving into her and pinning her on the ground instead of him being on the bottom. Their lip lock didn't last so long because she was beating on his front, the chilled environment making them too tired to lift a finger on each other. 

 

They got up not too long later, ready to meet up with everyone else and talk like it was nothing, Minho being clingy and affectionate up the ass. She wanted to see if anyone heard Minho and her's talk, or anything out of the ordinary of their whereabouts, Newt becoming curious to what they were  _actually_ doing. They sat back at their original spots, but then they changed their minds and went down to where the soldiers were, having fun. 

Then..

They heard blades stirring in the air. The night was dark, the lights and lanterns lighting up their passages where twinkling, and they had to look up to the sky.

"Look out! It's WICKED!"

Albeit Minho's harsh hunkering, she was ducked as a massive missile was aimed at their base, the incendiary response being launched. The tent besides them blew up and they both hit the ground, her hearing going. 

She winced and laid back on the ground, the blast was strong and all she heard was ringing. It was awful and she covered both of her ears as more missiles landed in sections of tents and housing, the people on fire and stocks ablaze. They were being attacked, yet she was on the floor and curled up from the pain. Minho had to tug her up while screaming, but it wasn't heard. His screams were beyond garbled and she felt like she was going to pass out. 

Men dropped from the air crafts and his arms burned with intensity as he got her up to stand, his shouts still scrambled to make any sense to her. 

"Run! Greenie, run with me!" 

She was loosely jogging, checking the area yet all she saw were scared faces and people grabbing weapons to fight against their nemesis. She immediately hopped into her senses and she went with him, Newt and Frypan trailing behind. "We need to find Vince or that lady!" Newt said above the spark of flames that intruded their way, making them have to go around or go back. 

Guns sprayed at anyone in particular, Minho having stopped in time to see a bullet go clean through a crate of bagged rice, the grains spilling out like sand. 

"Shuck!"

Getting behind some barrels, Newt and Frypan were in fight or flight mode, sweat beading at their foreheads'. This was wasn't going to be easy.. 

 

Where was Thomas and Teresa?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh. Sorry.  
> For.. The uh.. Sad thing. Whoops.


	7. Search and Destroy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fight with WICKED isn't over.
> 
> We won't give up. We will find you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is probably the best story I've written in my life.

Harriet flees to Sonya who was stationed at an armed truck, it's contents ranging from rifles to snipers. They take up rifles, since they are most skilled in that area in shooting the enemies coming at them without hesitation. She felt like she'd lose her consciousness by the explosion that had happened a minute ago, but she did her best to listen to Minho. 

"Newt, you and her take up the snipers, help Harriet and Sonya!" 

"Minho, you're not separating from us." Newt stubbornly inclined his head. "We're not going to be sitting shucking ducks behind a bunch of barrels, mate, we're going to shoot together! No more running away!"

He nodded curtly to his words, realizing this wasn't the time to split up. The steel metal canisters with the contents of oil weren't so promising to their safety. "Alright. I understand. You okay?" He wasn't necessarily panicking towards the fact that his girlfriend could faint, but she waved her a hand a bit in reassurance. 

"'m 'kay."

"Great." Frypan nervously peeked from the wooden shield but a gunshot proved they were already targeted. "We need to move!"

"Already on it!" Newt lead them to the truck with quick and frantic footsteps, his dodging bullets and people that were running to safety. Wherever safety was. They were surrounded. She stumbled halfway in, Minho's encouraging yells the only fuel to her adrenaline pumping in her veins. 

A rifle was tossed in the Korean's direction and he swiped it with ease, adjusting the tip to face the nemesis that was running up behind the truck in a sneak attack. He shot without pausing, the man falling flat on his back and blood spurting from his chest. 

Two snipers were handed hastily to Newt and her, and she was puzzled with it's functions, blinking with a stuttering motion. "I don't know how to operate this klunk!"

"Just aim and pull the trigger!" Harriet screamed over the gunfire Minho was spraying. 

She decided to take her chances with a sour twist of her lips then hurriedly brought the circular lens to her eye, closing the other. It was more so a hand held sniper, where it wasn't propped with a stand and it was heavier than it looked. She growled when she saw a man climbing into a tent to shoot at a pair of adults that were caught getting their belongings together, shooting him directly through the back. His body falling at their feet was enough to make them jolt and run on the spot. 

Newt had his fair share of good shots, some in the head and some in other limbs that caused them to be unable to shoot their weapons. They weren't half bad, but if she was to be truly honest, they missed more than half of what they intended to hit. 

Sonya was busying herself with feeding ammo to Vince's machine gun that was perched on the hind quarters of their vehicle, and he had to constantly hunker behind the machinery due to rapid bullets coming at him with intention to kill. He wasn't going to go without a fight, but it was becoming frustrating that they were getting closer and closer to their locked and loaded space. 

Their reinforcements weren't much, hence what he mentioned to the Gladers when they arrived that they used to be a bigger army. They really needed people- However WICKED had probably wiped out most of them in a matter of seconds with their shocker guns. They dropped like flies when the devices attached to limbs, paralyzing them and seizing at the waves of pain running through every muscle and ligament. 

Bam. 

It connected with the junction of her collar bone and shoulder, the shocker ball embedded in her skin. It was like a cage on her skin, trapping it and forcing her body to yield, her gun slipping through her fingers.

She was shot. She couldn't feel anything but vibrations of pain.

She stumbled backwards by how fast it had hit her exterior, and her head knocked against the dirt and rocks, back aching tremendously. Minho's signature shout of her nickname was heard, and she could feel the blood seep out of her ears by how loud their environment became. It was a mix of screaming, guns, grenades going off everywhere, and people running. 

She twitched once then twice, hand barely registering to move by her commands her brain were trying to send to it. _Move, you damned idiot! Do it! You have to warn him!_ She couldn't utter any sort of noise other than a keening moan. That soldier was preparing to throw a grenade at them. 

The grenade landed into Vince's compartment and they didn't have time to move away. It blew up and the shocker balls had evolved to it's familiar pincer-like grabs, catching them at the last second. Minho's figure collapsed next to hers, yet wasn't head to head, his head being by her ankle. She parted her lips but nothing came out, her breath wheezing. The blood that had come out of her ears were strolling along it's cartilage, it felt strange. 

Newt's body had made a quite rough landing, planking on the sand and his head turned. He probably passed out by it's effects. Harriet was mustering her courage to fight it's electrocution, her shoulders shaking violently while her hands grasped the walls of the truck. She was a tough teenager, that is, until she was with the pile of them. 

Having their weapons kicked away from them, they were dragged into a round up of everyone WICKED captured that night, semi-able to get a hold of themselves. Minho was conveniently put next to her and he could tell she was wrecked, by how much dirt she had caked on and her own ruby coating on her head and certain angles of her face. It had smeared when they moved her, her eyes glazed with danger. 

She sniffed and blinked when it came to a halt, the effects had dulled, and she hung her head. She hated how defeated they were, having to kneel to these evil human beings that claim to want to help the world get rid of The Flare. They weren't good. WICKED _isn't_ good. Minho gulped in anxiety, nudging her arm. "You alright?" He had this way of asking that question, he was genuinely concerned that she'd be alive at the end to this shit. 

"Quiet," said a menacing man from behind, using the butt of his gun to hit his skull. He hissed at the throb it gave him, jerking his head at the action. 

"Shuck!" He gritted out, reaching to cup the blossoming bruise that would come up later. 

"I'm fine." She whispered, her jaw clenched. 

Scanners were used on them like Jorge had done on them, and there was actually no sign of Brenda, Jorge, Teresa or Thomas. They must have escaped, or fled without thinking of them. She wanted to slap Thomas or punch Jorge if she saw their shucked faces at this moment. They could have helped, or done something to be with them. She felt that Thomas was probably thinking of himself to not be here. 

Minho was scanned first and he was bent at the neck for his tattoo to be revealed, the symbols not making any sense whatsoever. He was uncomfortable and defiant when they had to keep him still, his growls showing he was in the mood to claw at someone. She was next, yet she couldn't do much to stop it, her short trimmed hair being tugged downwards. The soldier who handled her grimaced when he saw his glove be covered in blood.. 

When did her head start bleeding?

She was finished being used for their data to be collected and then the rest of their line was being done, her stomach preparing to throw up what they had for dinner. They were having a romantic moment.. And here they were. Knelt and herded like a bunch of animals to be sent back to their owners for running away for the right reasons. There was nothing right in any of this. 

Janson seemed high and mighty, his hands held behind his back modestly. He was waiting for someone.. She didn't want to meet his friends. At all. She snarled when he caught sight of her and took his time with stepping to her, his shoes as shiny as they come albeit their surrounding's that would make them scratched and worn.

"You.. You like raising obscene gestures at me, don't you?" He recalled; the time she and Thomas flipped him off. 

"You deserved it." She bravely spat it out. "How's it going with chasing a bunch of kids, grandpa? It took you this long, I'm surprised."

His eyes didn't match his sly smile and then she felt something burst forth from her nose and top lip, her head and back arched from the blow. His fist had reeled and flung like a fishing line at her face full frontal. She couldn't express how dreadful it was to be punched like that, and she accidentally bit the inside of her cheek, the gushing taste of iron being strong. 

Her teeth had stained with the shade of crimson and she coughed it up, her nosebleed meshing none too good with it. She was on her side, her eyes squeezed shut intensely. 

"Get up, kid." He balled his knuckles into her jacket and yanked her up to sit, disgusted with her. Minho was about to stand and beat the living klunk out of Janson then a round piece belonging to a hand gun was pointed at his head. "Oh, what a hero. I'm not here to hit you too, if that's what you're thinking." 

The Korean glanced at his extremely hurting girlfriend and then the weapon that chose life or death, his hands kneading his thighs nervously. "You don't have to do this, Janson."

"I'm afraid that I do." The man clicked his tongue in pity and refrained from aiming his gun at the boy, holstering it. "What's the count?" He called out for a specific answer to the head count of everyone in the vicinity. They had calculated that Thomas wasn't here. That's when his attitude split, his eyebrows straight and narrowed. He was searching for Thomas. Teresa, too? Take him! Take him, for all she cared!

"Thomas!" Janson repeated the supposed leader's name, his hands itching to grab his weapon again to threaten one of his friend's if he didn't come up for this occasion. "I wonder where you could be, since your friend's could die at this very minute!" 

Hovering his palm over the peculiar metal. "Should I count?"

"I'm right here." 

 

* * *

 

 

Thomas was being shoved by his shoulders even though his grand entrance wasn't that grand, and he saw how Janson did his job on the newbie of the group, rage flaring up inside. He decided to bury it, he had to see what Janson's ideas were. Teresa had trailed behind him, dwindling in the chilly weather. This is ridiculous and a waste of time!

"You didn't leave when you had the chance?" Minho spoke up among the wild eyed Gladers, his almond shaped ones being hardened. 

"Not without you guys." He put his hand out to simulate that he had this under control. She glared at Teresa and had to hold in a guffaw to Thomas's words. They weren't promising.

Their new captor delivered an upper cut to Thomas's gut and it made him double over, to his feet in disbelief. He should have knew that Janson wasn't playing around anymore, this was going to be the time they put everything on the line and stop meeting in this fashion. There went Thomas's act to play it cool. 

An air craft nestled on the field, the winds picking up and swirling throughout the altercation. It was about the size of an average space ship. Then a word came to her mind from out of the blue, it saying, _It's a Berg_. The Berg's ramp came forward with a clank, the battalion of some sort marching in formation to lead their boss to them. 

It was a woman. 

With her tucked hair that was in a professional bun, her fluffy coat comfortably resting on her frame. She had a cold and eery face nonstop, she was unsatisfied with things, surfing the crowd for who she wanted to speak to. That was the woman from the video chat and she couldn't refrain from bolting, her body not getting any farther than a few inches. Her knees dug into the pebbles and sand, her eyes bubbling with tears at the edges. 

She was Ava. Ava Paige. Chancellor Paige. The highest ranked official of WICKED and had created this atrocity of monstrous fighting for freedom. She couldn't search for words.. She couldn't form or string a sentence for the life of her. Ava did this to them. She will pay for what she's done to them. 

"Is the subjects all here?"

"Yes, ma'am." Janson's cheerful words made her skin crawl. 

Ava slightly gazed from her nose to the bloody girl. "..What happened to her."

"She had an accident." He side eyed to her in case she'd give away the answer. 

"Your buddy ol' pal punched me." She breathlessly vaporized the air that exhaled from her lungs, her nose stuffed with what felt like tissues to clog up her nostrils. "He's a real catch, I'll tell ya."

"Greenie." Minho mumbled, his mono lids lowering. 

A pause was made and she can see how it didn't change her icy features. "Load them in." She had this regretful glint behind her orbs, hands going into her pockets. Load.. Load what in? Cargo, supplies? It can't possibly be them.

Ava gestured to the sections of men and women that were waiting for answers, yet they were told to get up and get into the Berg's. She gasped when she watched the soldier's get her up by her jacket, her legs nearly giving in from the initial dismay she had to them. She must despise them this much to treat them like this. 

The woman moved to them in the midst of the chaos and separated families, her grimace planted on her thin lips. "You three. I'm glad you're safe. I'm relieved." She gave Thomas, Teresa and her long stares of relief. 

"It was safe until you showed up." Her sentence came out with a heartbroken stance, a teardrop raking her cheek subtly. She didn't even feel it go down. 

Minho had the craziest urge to go up to her and wipe it away then tell her it'll be okay, but that's impossible when he was going to be taken to the nearby Berg. He fought them with a plea to be with her, and he kicked and shrugged his shoulders instantaneously. 

"Let **go** of him!" She hiccuped and went up to them, attempting to pry their hands off. " _Let go!_ "

"Release him for now." Ava ordered; the men listening to her as an exception. 

His arms went around her shoulders and held her tight, his hand's cupping around the back of her head and making sure he gave her his determination. He was dedicated to never be apart from her and he massaged her scalp with his fingertips in the meantime to soothe her wracked shivers. 

"What do you mean by three?" Newt and Frypan couldn't have seemed more intrigued to the way she worded that. 

Teresa comes up from Thomas's side to show what was going on behind the scenes, her eyes dead set on Ava in understanding. It was.. Her, this whole time? Newt flitted his gaping face from Ava to Teresa, in realization. She had given them up.. She was a traitor. Minho snapped out of his daze from being reunited with his girlfriend, his betrayal written on his entire expression. He let up his grip on her and his chin slackened. 

Betrayal is one of the things the Gladers wouldn't do. She wasn't a Glader. 

She was an outsider, from then on. 

The Korean squinted as if he needed to magnify this. He couldn't breathe, his heart racing in its' cavern. 

"Teresa.. Y-You didn't?" Minho has never held so much hatred or dislike for anyone. Ever. 

"You're with them, now? Or have you always been?" Newt was double crossed by her and he didn't think he could look at her the same after this. This wasn't a game, if she thought it was cute to do this to them. Did she have the heart to explain herself or be ignorant to her unfaithfulness. She went through the same shucking stuff they did.. And for what? To just go right back to them and live like experimented mice?

To be poked and prodded and tested? Variables, candidates and killzones, and the like? The cure; how could they possibly be the key to something the government spent human lives on for many years to create it? What did they have that was vital? Teresa wasn't faking it.. She seriously did this. 

She couldn't grasp the reality, and tried to pinch the skin on her hand to see if she'll wake up back in the Glade like nothing happened. 

It didn't work. 

Minho has never cried in front of her, or anyone in general. He was the type to always make someone laugh, or tease someone, to be bold and risky at every corner he'd go around. He was the one who'd be the firecracker of the party. The one who'd be there when people fell down into darkness, mentally or otherwise. Whenever he would start to cry, he'd make a wise joke or compliment himself to lighten everyone up. 

He hid that part of his vulnerability for the sake of everyone. She never could understand it, and in this minute, she couldn't do anything to stop his tears from dribbling over his puffy bottom lids. His broad nose flared a little, his emotions showing through inevitably. He's lost friends, his life at some points of their journey, and they went through the worst events anyone could think of. To starve in a desert, to be held in a Maze for three years, and stealing their youth. 

She had the audacity to sell them out, out of selfishness. 

"The cure-" Teresa began. 

"You and the shucking _cure_? That's why you did this to us?" She shrieked, her foot stomping on the ground and shaking her head angrily. "You did this for that?"

"I did the right thing!" Teresa countered over her volume and Ava was disheveled to see them become like this over a minor incident. 

"She blew up innocent lives! Do you have any loose screws in your head to see that it's up in _flames!_ It, as in what we're standing around!" She sneered, inclining her head to the tents that were smoking and billowing out fumes. 

"We did what was necessary to obtain you," Janson took up the pathetic debate instead of his boss. "We've tried to reason with you."

"By sedation and kidnapping?" She was feral, Minho's hand's finding hers and tangling their fingers together to remind her that they could be put in danger twice as much by her argumentative ability. 

"You little-" Janson's face could turn purple if it wasn't for Ava's sudden switch in personality. 

"Enough, Janson." Ava undid her hands from her pockets to display her sincerity. "We needed more time. They don't understand."

"You mean death? Despair?" A feminine bellow came and Vince seemed to have known who it was, shifting to see them come out from hiding. It was his partner. "Agony! Foolishness?" Her brunette locks were brushing past her shoulders, her clip having come undone by the chivalry in her base. 

"Ah. Mary." Ava had a dead ring to her voice. They knew each other? Finally, she knew her name, though. Mary. Her body turned slowly to face Mary who was meeting up, albeit keeping a few feet away for a reason. 

"You think that's what's going to find the cure?" She asked with care, her eyebrows drawn in. She could seem like a good mother.. by how she talked to people, people like Ava, too. 

"It's sad you haven't understood my true intentions." The Chancellor had no choice but to let Janson cruelly shoot her down, his pistol he had previously on the couple now to the woman she barely got to know or keep in contact with. Mary's face lost it's passion to discuss this matter with Ava, the patch of her clothes darkening and spreading. 

Vince could resemble a Crank if he was truly immune, and he bawled and tried to get to her, only to be restrained harshly. He lost his partner.. More loss. More death. More pain to spread around. WICKED is breaking apart population by population as if it was their dying wish to make everyone suffer. 

"Let's put them in. Load it up." She crisply remarked to Janson who seemed happy with killing a human, and she patted his shoulder. "Good work."

Minho panics as he goes to hug her to ensure he wouldn't be taken away, but they were already losing. She screeches when she's picked up off the ground from behind, her forearms linking with him. "Don't let go!" She stared right into Minho's eyes and it resonated in his mind; that he couldn't give up. 

"Don't let go!" She repeated, her acceleration to speak being rushed. 

"Ugh!" He couldn't hold on yet went on, her actually being the first to let go due to her exhaustion. "No! Shit!"

"Minho!" She called for him and she whimpered in anguish, her hands beating on the one's around her middle. She was being put in a totally different Berg than the one Minho was going in, her bangs swishing around her eyebrows when she whipped her head to see him scrambling the dirt and scuffing his boots. 

 

Thomas had to do this. 

He held a bomb in his hand with not a sparing glance, his other hand holding the button to it. "Let them go!"

"Thomas!" Ava's tone almost went up an octave at seeing what he had, her hands thrown up in surrender, as if. "Put that down!"

"I said let them go!" He roared. 

Minho and her were solidified, the soldiers mimicking it. The commotion was dire to make them do that.. Thomas was going to kill them, to end this with a push of a button? This better be the solution that they had left. It's better to die than to live in this world.. That's for a fact. 

"This bomb can wipe us out, Ava-! I'll do it!"

A bomb! Holy shit! Where did he get a shucking bomb!

"You're making a grave mistake! You really want them all to die?" Her and Janson were terse, his pistol held up in defense.

"Then let them go." Thomas wasn't going to say it for a fourth time, Ava eventually giving the hand signal for them to release the one's they were carrying. 

Minho and her sprinted to where Newt and Frypan were, their heaved breathing proved they weren't going to go with them, if it meant to die from a bomb or by WICKED for unwillingness. Thomas's face etched with trauma, his lips chapped and his skin dry. He was done with running, and everyone else agreed in a flash. 

"Thomas, they won't hurt us!" Teresa tried to get to Thomas but Ava used her arm to hold her back, her face expressing a trenched sadness. 

"We are with you. Push the trigger." She didn't waste a minute with telling him what to do with it, Minho circling them in a knit group. They were together. Nothing would stop them. 

Thomas didn't get to look back at his friends forming the Gladers as a unit. She found her hands fumbling with Minho's coat, the fabric there soft despite the rough housing that went on and she stared up to him in awe. She'd get to see his face in heaven, she guessed. If there was a heaven. 

"Do it."

Her hands bruised on Minho's back, his hug immaculate and composed against her figure and she couldn't bear to sweep her eyes away from him. He was still handsome, with the wounds and being dirtied up. She swiped at his hair multiple times to adjust it, cupping his cheeks, the dirt he had on his face was streaked with his tears as well as hers and she felt bad that he had to cry out of sheer anger.

This was it. They didn't want to go back.

 

* * *

 

Right as he was about to press his thumb on the plastic button, a truck in the distance revved it's engines, the wheels carving it's marks into the surface of dirt and sand alike. It was driving straight on from it's clean position, every thing making a clearing for it. It was heading in a line, it's cargo bouncing around in it's confines. 

It had a head on collision with WICKED's helicopters, causing every person in the base to be ballistic and split up. The Right Arm had it's courage to fight back, people punching and kicking and stealing their weapons from them. The destructive shattering of the windows and it going up in bright, fierce shades of red and yellow, it made her heart drown. 

She had been pulled aside by Minho during the event and she held onto his shoulder's, shaking him in the flare-up. "Minho, don't!" She meant for him to not be in the action and spur of soldiers coming at them. "We have to run!"

His exhales were rough and dragged, his eyes burning with redemption. 

"I have to!"

"Minho, please!" 

"Go!" He retorted. She had to be protected, first and foremost. "You'll be safe if you run on your own!"

"Not without you!" She wailed; she shook him harder when he stole a rifle from a fallen man's hold. He cocked it and she wrapped a hand barely around his muscle through the thick coating of his coat. "Don't! Or else I'll have to join you! I'm not going without you!"

Her screeches over the eruption and clattering of glass or shocker devices hitting humans in every place imaginable made him cringe inside. She could see over his shoulder-

Thomas was cornered by WICKED's militia, the bomb he had being chucked in their direction.

Uh oh.

The detonation was short lived but robust, and the men had died instantly from it's proximity. Thomas was held down suddenly by Janson's foot, being knocked down, about to be shot in the face. "Thomas!" She called out and was going to help, scouring the ground for anything to throw. A rock, or a gun to shoot? She maneuvered her body and handled a pistol to the air, ready to push. 

But a sniper got to it first, in the hills. She followed the sound, her and Minho seeing Brenda's brave face lit up at seeing Janson be stunned. She wished she could feel what she felt in that moment. 

Vince had gotten to the machine gun, starting right away with shooting at the aircraft in the skies, his body jolting and moving with it's violent movements. The noises it made were massive, her hands going over her ears. Minho gets her to stand behind him and he insistingly budges her back with his back and legs. Men were coming at them in rows, guns lifted. 

"Go! Go, come on!" 

She gritted her teeth then got to his side stubbornly, closing an eye and taking a shot at one of them. They were hit, and she missed for a second shot. Minho had to accept she wouldn't leave him. They fought side by side effortlessly, until he was running out of ammo and so was she. 

"You shucking.. Shuck!" His gun was getting jammed, his head ducked down to concentrate. She covered him in the meantime, her face fearless and unyielding. She shot at what would be the fifth man in the column, but she was shot in time before her bullet hit him in the chest. 

She lost her breath at being shot at for the second time that night, her figure frozen. Minho couldn't undo the jam and he was shot too, by the same person that was surging up the hill to them. The shouts of their names were echoing, and she watched him clutch onto a crate to be stable, his hand raising to touch the blue electricity that branched on his stomach. They both hurt, being put in shock. 

They both didn't tear their eyes away from the scene unfolding, the soldiers pushing against Thomas and Newt and Frypan, even Aris, Sonya and Harriet still fighting to the bone to get to them. They shrieked and went nuts. "Minho! Minho! No, Minho!"

" _Don't..!_ God damn it, no! _Minho!"_ Thomas yelled in torment, his eyes showing his suffering. 

Newt had to guide him to get up the hills Brenda was in, the soldiers were filing in too much. They couldn't fight anymore. 

The men got to their position on the crates and they tucked their arms under Minho's, taking him away. She screamed and was making an effort, his head lolling about in the agony. She screamed more than she ever had in her life, possibly, the misery of losing him completely being real. 

He was being taken into the ship with Ava climbing up the ramp, her hands scraping for purchase on the ground when she fell. "M-Minho! _Wake up!_ " She gagged at the sand cloud coming at her, the air craft's blades were spurring round and round and she needed him to be the usual rebellious teenager he was. 

"Wake  _up!"_ She restated in heart ache, her hand stretching out to his limp body in the hands of her enemy. 

His eyes finally shut as he passed out, fingers weak and not in fists. He wasn't gone, but he wasn't able to get to her. She sobbed, the armed men hesitatingly asking on their commands to take her with them. Ava was frigid, having to make the decision to take her with them, or leave her behind to die. 

Then it was ordered. 

"Take her, as well."

She was pulled up too, losing her shit in the process. She was using her last bits of her mental state to realize she was going in with WICKED, what they could do to her, or Minho was unknown. 

She threw her head back and saw how Thomas was doing everything he could to not run after them, Newt's hands forcibly being on him. 

 

* * *

 

 

Minho and her were WICKED's. 

 

They will be found soon. She knew the Gladers like the back of her hand. 

 

This isn't over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please do drop a kudos if you liked it or loved it. I would love feedback. I've received The Fever Code, and I'm like.. Finding out shit that changes up the whole timeline of my story, but I'm going to keep it the way it is so that it has plot twists and stuff! 
> 
> It was nuts, writing up the first two sections of the series. I loved every second of it.


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